


Let's Try That Again

by SirkusAce



Category: Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: 'cause thats my jam, AND I ADDED TEEAARS because that's my vice, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drabbles with inconsistent upload schedule be warned, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, HEEEEEE'S BAAAAAACK, Mainly musicalverse but might blur with some cartoonverse, Moodring hair is my main reason to be here so you know it's in here, No beetlebabes unless you force it in your own mind, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Teen for foul mouths because I happen to have one myself and will let characters have them too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24080929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirkusAce/pseuds/SirkusAce
Summary: It's been a few months since the whole chaotic shebang. Lydia's in a better place, and the rest have settled pretty well, too.Though Lydia can't help but look back and possibly overthink that mess with Beetlejuice. He tried to put things right to some extent in the end. At least there was an effort. Is it not only fair then that someone makes an effort in return? Especially the one that was equally vindictive.In actuality Lydia has been on the verge of summoning him for weeks, just for the hell of it. She misses her chaotic demon buddy - or more specifically she longs for what they had before they both went off their respective rails. It was worth a shot, right, if at least done for the right reasons?One day where all four of her parents plan to hang out together all evening is just what she needs. It's showtime.
Comments: 58
Kudos: 141





	1. The Sappy Return

Lydia closed the door behind her and breathed in deeply. She could faintly hear her parents – all four of them – laughing downstairs. It had been a lovely evening, really it had. Lydia actually wanted to sit downstairs with all her folks and enjoy the rest of the evening with them, but this evening was too perfect an opportunity to waste. Luckily there were no arguments when Lydia excused herself to go up to her room so soon after dinner. Granted, Delia and Barbara had asked, practically in unison, if she was sure but let her go when she smiled and said yes.  
  


The reason it was so perfect was that the four of them were going to be occupied with a movie or two for the evening. They had planned this for a few days now, and ever since Lydia caught wind of it, she had decided that would be the time. Now she knew exactly where all four where, they were busy – she could, no _had to_ do it now! There was no telling when she would get such an opportunity again.  
Finally Lydia remembered to breathe back out. She sighed heavily, then straightened up and walked into the middle of her room. She cast a glance out to the balcony, but decided against it. Barbara had made a comment earlier about how it was probably going to rain soon. Lydia didn’t feel like taking her chances. The weather wasn’t warm enough anymore. Oh, what did it matter? She shook her head and cleared her throat. It was time to summon him again.  
  


It felt right. She knew none of her parents would be happy about it, which was why she decided to do it the sneaky way around. At least in the beginning. She needed to check on him. Oh, he had messed things up _badly_ and tried to trick her – but she had twisted it back on him _and_ … Lydia felt her stomach knot at the memory of plunging that art piece through his chest. Honestly, they had gotten along really well, but they had also _both_ been horrible. To his credit, Beetlejuice had actually turned himself around almost immediately after getting … murdered. She could be the bigger person and admit that they had both done wrong by each other. She was in a much better place now – and she wanted him to be, too. Truth be told, she considered them even, and she missed him. Really, she did. Maybe if they could bury the hatchet – or just confirm with each other that it was buried – they could start over again. Make sure to do it better this time around.  
Lydia didn’t really know how much she could trust Beetlejuice to do on his part, but she had to at least check on him. She needed to know with herself that she had at least tried. He was probably older than all her parents combined, but somehow he seemed more in tune with her. He could be a good guy – and Lydia could be so, too! She gave the wall on the other side a determined smile and nodded to nobody in particular. It. Was. _Showtime!  
  
_

“Beetlejuice!” Lydia called out, then waited a brief moment. Last time he had began talking to her when he heard her call on him, but maybe he had just creeped around nearby then … “Beetlejuice …” Oh god, what if she interrupted him in something? What if it was important to him? She had a faint memory of him mentiniong searching for his father … Lydia shook her head. No time for second thoughts! “Beetlejuice,” she finished quickly, almost a little scared it wouldn’t work if she didn’t hurry up.  
  


Warning flags popped up the moment he showed up in the middle of her room.  
There were no theatrics. Beetlejuice, _the ghost with the most_ , just unceremoniously dropped into her room looking like he had fallen off the moon. In the moment, Lydia was too ecstatic to think twice about it. She lit up and clasped her hands together. “It still works! Hi, Beej.”

  
The rest of the warning flags all appeared simultaneously in his unruly hair. It was dark purple when he appeared, but when he looked directly at her a flurry of other colors began to stripe his hair. Dark blue, some faded yellows, the tips turned pale and a thin, green streak appeared down the middle.  
Lydia would have laughed at the display, but it was clear on Beetlejuice’s entrance, silence and most of all expression that hardly any of the colors were good. After what felt like a far too long silence, he furrowed his brows, still glaring at her in … disbelief was Lydia’s best guess at this point. “You just … summoned me. Why?”

  
_Oh no_. Of all the reactions Lydia had tried to predict, this was far from any of them. Her smile quickly fell. “I wanted to see if it still worked. I wanted to see you,” Lydia told him honestly. She realized now, perhaps a little late, that her being too buddy-buddy would totally set off alarms in his head. She took a deep breath and gave a sheepish smile. “No, really, I mean it. I …” She paused briefly to find better words. His hair had become mostly purple again, with blue residing at the roots. “I’m so sorry, Beej. For … for the whole …” Lydia choked up a bit.  
  


It was much harder to admit out loud. She gestured faintly to her own chest, even looking away for a second. She found it impossible to meet his eyes when referencing the murder.  
 _Oh come on_ , she told herself. She had told herself from the start, she’d step up to apologize first.  
  


Lydia cleared her throat again and met Beetlejuice’s look of sheer, unadulterated disbelief. “I gave you all you wanted, just so I could rip it from you … It was utterly …” Lydia paused to search for the word. She had a longer word prepared, what was it? “It was just vindictive!” she blurted out. “I should have tried to go about it another way … I’m really sorry, Beej. I mean it, I _promise_.”

  
The blue in his hair flared into a line of red. Beetlejuice made a strained face. “ _You’re_ apologizing to _me?_ What the fu- No!” the demon abruptly exclaimed. For a brief second, he looked like he was riling up to get angry, but it cracked into an exasperated expression. “I threatened your family! The whole fucking marriage thing was – and this is me talking – fucking gross. The more I think back on it the worse it gets! I just did it to be alive ‘cause that was the only way I knew of, but … fuck, no.” He shook his head and dug a hand through his hair. “Killing me was just fair, honestly.” A sheepish chuckle barely escaped his throat. “I got what was coming for me – besides, I’m back to being ID’ed as born-dead, that … that got sorted out in the end, so whatever. Being alive was … a lot, way more than I bargained for with none of my awesome powers. I just … I wanted to be human so I wouldn’t be invisible anymore, that _was it_ –” Beetlejuice’s voice jumped in pitch as he gestured wildly. “I screwed over a perfectly good BFFFFF forever just because I wanted people to see me – which is so fucking stupid when you realize _I had someone who saw me and liked hanging around already!_ I didn’t get it until waaayyy late … because I’m as big of fuck-up as my mom always said I was.” The colors of his hair finally settled on a bleak, dark blue. His whole expression fell, even Beetlejuice himself began to slump.

  
He didn’t say it in words, but to Lydia he might as well have an apology letter written all over his face. She had to take a moment to let all his words sink in. That ... seemed like he had been bottling up for a while now. “Beetlejuice …” she began softly once she felt ready to pipe up again.

  
He cast a down-trodden look up to meet her eyes. “Two more times,” he added weakly.

  
Lydia shook her head quickly and gave him a firm look. Was she trying to imitate Barbara? A little. “No, Beej. It’s okay,” she began, offering him a smile again. If he felt like her backstab was fair, then the proverbial hatchet was buried. Lydia could forgive him on the notion that he did wrong out of desperation – she knew all about feeling invisible, after all. It made her do a lot of desperate wrongs, too.

  
A mix between a growl and a broken whimper slipped out of Beetlejuice. “Okay? _Okay?_ _NO IT ISN’T!”_ he snapped, though still he didn’t look angry. At least not with her. “It is soooooo not okay, it’s not even funny! You should _hate me!_ Why don’t you hate me?!” He leaned a little forward, jabbing his chest with his hand.  
  


Lydia couldn’t get any words out at first. She had just noticed the tears welling in his eyes, and now she saw one trickle down, leaving a pale stripe down his cheeks. To make matters worse, he sounded as broken as he looked. The mere thought of Beetlejuice crying – in regret of what he’d done no less – stunned her. Finally, when her own eyes began to sting, she blinked. “Beej …” Lydia took a step towards him.

  
No matter how careful she tried to be, he winced back away from her. Purple and blue were at war on the top of his head again. “You should hate me,” he croaked. “Everyone does! Yet you win ‘Best reason why’ – by a _looooong_ shot!” A shadow of a smile twitched on his lips for a fraction of a second. The ugliest shade of yellow Lydia had ever seen began to creep throughout his hair. “Hell, Lyds … _I_ hate me!” If Lydia’s hair could change colors like his, it would have turned stark white in that moment. Beetlejuice continued as if all fight had finally left him. “Just send me back …”  
  


“ _NO!_ ” It came out of her immediately. Far louder than she expected. Beetlejuice physically jumped. “I didn’t summon you just to send you back, this isn’t like last time I saw you I _promise_ , Beetlejuice!” Lydia swallowed and did her best to reel in the desperation in her own voice. “I really _did_ want to check on you, and now I’m glad I did, despite it all. I really _do_ want to see you again. I really _am_ sorry for what I did, and even if you haven’t _said_ it, I get a strong feeling you are, too. I don’t hate you, and I don’t think I should, either.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “How about this, we’ll call it even, but on one condition. You have to take a shower!” Lydia crossed her arms firmly, still smiling. One of them had to pull it back, and Beetlejuice clearly wasn’t doing it.  
  


The demon was back to utter disbelief. Another perceived eon passed before he spoke. “Wha- … Really?”

  
Lydia grinned. She could hear that tiny spark of hope in his voice. He believed her, or at least he wanted to. “Yeah. That’s something you’d hate, right? There, and you can pick something I have to do, and we can call it even and get back to being …” She had to count in her head. “BFFFFF’s forever! Sound good?”

  
Beetlejuice’s hair flashed back to blue, and his face contorted as tears built in his eyes again. The very next moment they streamed down his face like tiny rivers. Despite clearly trying to contain it, Beetlejuice couldn’t stop the tears from coming, or the hasty sniffles that were still so easy to hear. He trembled for a minute before he simply buckled and sat down on the ground. Well, half sat down half fell down. A green stripe hid between clumps of blue hair, but Lydia could swear it was _there_ , however faint. A faint, green stripe of happiness.

  
At this point, Lydia became teary-eyed as well. Still she smiled as she walked over to sit with him. “Hug?” she offered, ignoring how sappy she must have sounded. Beetlejuice nodded. Lydia scooted up close and threw her arms around him, trying to hug as much of him as she could. It took him a moment, but when he hugged back, he held on so tight Lydia couldn’t really move. She could still breathe, so she said nothing. His attempts of containing the tears went out the window as he began to openly sob.  
  


It took a good while before Beetlejuice calmed down – naturally. Lydia caught him trying to force the waterworks to end early, but a sentimental backrub and some gentle words sent him sobbing into her shoulder all over again. Lydia didn’t know for how long, and neither did she care. He clearly _needed it_. Sure her sweater did get all grossed up, but she was going to throw it in the laundry pile anyway. She wouldn’t really call it a price to pay.  
A few seconds after the sobs died out, Beetlejuice sniffled sharply, let Lydia go and sat a little back. He looked like an even bigger mess than usual, which was to be expected. That green streak had definitely gotten wider, to Lydia's relief. With a tired snap of his fingers, Lydia’s shoulder was all dry and clean again.

  
Before she could say anything, Beetlejuice sighed. “Ok, where’s the shower?” He sounded defeated – but not heart-wrenchingly defeated like earlier. Funny, “oh well” defeated.

  
Lydia gave him a surprised look. “Oh, really? I said that mostly as a joke, I think we’re already even.”  
  


“Come on, babes. _Show’er_ to me.”  
  


Lydia burst into a small laugh before she could manage to roll her eyes. “You’re right, I shouldn’t argue. You _need_ a shower. Come on, I’ll even go … borrow something you can wear that isn’t …” She made a point out of dramatically looking his entire attire up and down. “Gonna make you as dirty as before in 0.5 seconds.” Lydia hopped back to her feet and headed towards the door. “Just gonna make sure the others are still all downstairs before I let you out of my room …”

  
Beetlejuice followed her, so Lydia noticed him suddenly hesitating. “Ah, shit … the rest of’em …” he muttered under his breath.

  
“We’ll figure it out, but we’re in no rush,” Lydia assured him.  
She was certainly in no rush to have four adults demand to know what she was thinking, summoning this demon back into their house. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a little smile on Beetlejuice's face, and she pushed the concerns of another day aside. One thing at a time.


	2. Confession Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He'll actually do it, the madman. He's gonna take a shower. Lydia felt like she had somehow ordered the devil himself to do a good deed.
> 
> On a more serious note ... she had more questions. She sure didn't enjoy seeing Beetlejuice in a bad mood, especially a sad one, but maybe it was best to just get it out of the way ...

Lydia walked out of her room and peeked down the stairs. After she was sure she heard all four of her folks speak at least once from the living room, she snuck off to grab a big t-shirt and some baggy sweatpants for her BFFFFF forever. Considering how far into the drawer she had to dig, it would probably not be missed any time soon. With long steps she hurried back to her door and gestured for Beetlejuice to follow. “Coast is clear, Beej.”

  
  
“I was afraid you’d say that,” he sighed dramatically, putting a hand to his forehead.  
Lydia giggled, overjoyed on the inside to see him back to his theatrics. His hair was still blue at the sides, but it was getting better.  
  


After a quick introduction to the shower, Beetlejuice looked at it as if Lydia had told him to climb Mount Everest in nothing but a tutu.  
  


“Getting cold feet?” Lydia teased, putting the spare clothes on the toilet for him.  
  


Beetlejuice made a brief snort of laughter. “Babes, I’ve had cold feet for millenia.”  
  


Lydia smiled and held up her hand. Beetlejuice paid a surprising amount of attention. “Soap, blue bottle. All over! Other soap, dark grey bottle. Just your hair. Make sure you rinse away all the soap afterwards. Dry yourself, obviously. Towel, big one, top shelf. Clothes.” As she counted on her hands, she briefly pointed out which things she referred to.  
  


“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do it properly, just for you – this once.” He smirked and ruffled her hair.  
  


Lydia chuckled. “You better, or else I’ll make you do it all over again.”  
  


“I said I would! Sheesh. Now – get outta here, ya little perv.” Beetlejuice turned around and playfully nudged Lydia toward the door.  
Lydia began to cackle at the irony, but quickly left him alone, closing the door after herself before heading back to her room.  
  


When she noticed the sound of the shower stopping, Lydia looked up briefly from her book. _Huh._ He had been there for longer than expected, she realized. Maybe he really did do it properly, as he had put it. She smiled for herself and continued reading, though she didn’t get more than a page further. A pleasant, familiar smell wafted towards her.

  
“Is this to your standards, oh clean one?”

  
Lydia looked back up. Beetlejuice looked – well first off he looked grumpier than Lydia had ever seen _anyone_. If she ignored his expression he looked … well, _much_ better even in tired, baggy clothing. It was just that a squeaky clean Beetlejuice looked so _wrong_ at the same time that it made her laugh involuntarily. Lydia threw her book aside and slapped a hand in front of her mouth. “Sorry!” she muffled out and tried her best to stop the gigglefit. _Think adult thoughts! Erh, actually …_ Lydia cleared her throat and put her hand back down.

  
Beetlejuice squinted at her. Before she could start, he eased into a smirk. “Looks all wrong, doesn’t it?”  
  
  
Lydia fought another laugh. “Yeah … You look really good though, it’s just because it’s you! Thaaat … came out wrong.”  
  
  
When Beetlejuice burst into a hearty laugh, Lydia couldn’t help it anymore. She laughed so hard she got tears in her eyes.  
  
  
Eventually they both stopped. Beetlejuice’s hair had flowered into a bright, healthy green. “Ugh … Look what that did to my _hair!_ It’s got a life of its own now!”  
  
  
His hair looked like it gained a mouth. “I FEEL SO _ALIVE!_ ” it chirped with a squeakier edition of Beeltejuice’s voice.  
  
  
Beetlejuice dug his hand into his hair and ruffled it angrily about – not really, there wasn’t a trace of red in his hair. “Oh, shut up!”  
  
  
Lydia snickered. “It looks just as messy as before, it’s just clean now.” All she got in reply was a groan fit for an angsty teenager. “Oh, come on, Beej. You wouldn’t have stayed in there so long if it was that horrible.”  
  
  
He sighed dramatically and floated over to her, leaning on an imaginary hammock by the looks of it. “I know. It wasn’t … _the worst thing imaginable_. The feel of it isn’t too bad, but … Babes, you don’t understand. That was _vintage_ filth!” He draped his arm over his forehead and sounded utterly heartbroken.  
  
  
Lydia toppled over on her side, wheezing with laughter. “Vintage filth! Oh, I’m sorry, Beej.”  
  
  
“You so fucking absolutely are not.”  
  
  
“No, not really.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice huffed and crossed his arms, though he wasn’t fooling anyone. “Typical breather.”  
  
  
Lydia smiled as she sat back up. Upon a closer look, she tilted her head to the side. “Beej?”  
  
  
“Hm?”  
  
  
“Do your eyes change color, too?” She looked him in the eyes like she was looking for the secrets of the universe. She could’ve sworn they looked different earlier.  
  
  
He blinked and looked at her for a moment before he replied. “Uh … yeah, I guess they do.” Despite the streak of orange that came and went in his hair, his eyes remained green.  
  
  
Lydia looked away for a little bit to repent for staring at him so badly. “Huh. It looks like it. Sorry, I got curious.”  
  
  
He smiled and waved her off. “Pff, don’t worry about it Lyds. I know my hair does it … _traitor_ … but I never really thought about any other part of me giving me out.” He rolled his eyes. “Jeesh, can’t even trust my own body, who _can_ I trust?” he lamented.  
  
  
Lydia knew he meant it as a joke, but couldn’t help it. She gave him a sincere look. “You can trust me. Just … give me some time, I’ll prove it.”  
  
  
A slow smile spread on Beetlejuice’s face. “I know you will. I …” He fiddled nervously with the trim of the t-shirt for a moment, looking away. “I want you to trust me again, too,” he sheepishly pressed out. An ominous line of blue appeared in his roots.  
  
  
Lydia smiled and held her fist out towards him. “We’ll get there.”  
  
  
To her relief, the blue faded away again as he bumped his knuckles against hers. “No rush … right?”  
  
  
Lydia shook her head. “I’d say we’re already well on our way, but no rush. Hey, can I touch your hair? It looks really fluffy.”  
  
  
He moved closer and leaned his head toward her. “What am I, some sort of curiosity?” he jested, a smile on his face.  
  
  
Lydia ran her hand through his amazingly unruly, but clean hair. “Beetlejuice, the ghost with the most – _clean_? Yeah, I’d call that a curiosity.”  
  
  
“Know what, you got me there, Babes. You’re right.” He held his arms out. “Proceed,” he said in a mock posh voice.  
  
  
“Hmm … I think I have to find a way to make you keep doing this,” Lydia pondered out loud.  
  
  
“ _WHAT!?_ ” The tips of his hair almost lit up in white. Beetlejuice groaned with exaggerated agony. “Nooooo! It looks so wrong, remember?”  
  
  
Lydia hummed. “Well, that’s just right now. We’ll get used to it if it becomes normal,” she chirped, ruffling his hair.  
  
  
“Oh, speak for yourself,” he pouted. When she pulled her hand back, he sat down on the bed with her. “Hey, isn’t it sleepy time for you?”  
  
  
“You’re trying to change the topic.”  
  
  
“Of course I am!”  
  
  
Lydia paused at his immediate honesty. After a little giggle, she shook her head. “I’m not really sleepy yet. Besides, it’s not _that_ late.” Honest, she had put her PJ’s on just because they were really comfy. She looked at him a bit closer. “Aren’t you tired? You looked pretty withdrawn earlier.”  
  
  
It took him a little while to answer. “I don’t need to sleep.”  
  
  
“Can you sleep?”  
  
  
“I can do something that’s … yeah, basically. It’s not exactly like breather sleep, but it’s basically sleep, I guess.” He shrugged.  
  
  
“There’s plenty of space here, you can even have cover, too!” Lydia gestured to her bed. It was big enough to fit two grown adults with ease – and her cover was monstrously big in a good way.  
  
  
Beetlejuice chuckled. “I’m not gonna sleep in your bed, Lyds.”  
  
  
“Come on, it’ll be like a sleepover! … Probably, I never really had one.” She smiled sweetly.  
  
  
“Sure, but listen, if I wanna sleep, I’ll take the floor. Your bed’s too soft.”  
  
  
Lydia nearly laughed again. “Okay, fine, suit yourself.” She thought for a moment. “Would you be okay to just lie down and chat until I fell asleep? Just to keep me company, I mean.” Lydia gave him her best innocent puppy eyes.  
  
  
Beetlejuice rolled his eyes and smiled. “Sure, if that means you’ll go to bed,” he teased.  
  
  
“Who are you, my dad?” Lydia nudged him with her elbow.  
  
  
“Nope. You have enough of those, don’tcha?” Beetlejuice grinned and nudged her right back.  
  
  
Lydia giggled and moved to lie down on the other side of the bed. “Big brother, then.”  
  
  
He snorted. “Well, you are kinda like a little sister, so I guess that’s fine.”  
  
  
“That’s it, you’re my big brother now. The family increases again!” Lydia waved her fist triumphantly in the air.  
  
  
“You have fun telling the rest of the family about this adoption,” he chuckled and floated over to lie down.  
  
  
“That’s a challenge for another day,” Lydia grumbled. “Anyway. Uhh … Beej? Do you mind if I ask something more serious for a minute?” She rolled over on her side and gave him a sheepish look.  
  
  
He leaned his head to the side at first, but eventually turned to her completely. “Sure, shoot.”  
  
  
“Did I … did I interrupt you in anything when I summoned you out of the blue? I remember you talking about your dad, but I was so excited to see you again and try to fix everything, I didn't really …” Lydia paused to search for words, looking guilty.  
  
  
Beetlejuice raised his brows. His hair changed to a different green tint. “My dad? _Oh_ , that … Right.” He laughed. “Erh … that’s just something I said … I’ve got no clue where that fucker is, and I don’t really intend to find out either. You didn’t really interrupt anything, no.” He shrugged sluggishly.  
  
  
Lydia sighed with genuine relief. “Oh, ok good. … Beej?”  
  
  
Her still careful tone made him narrow his eyes slightly. “Yeah?”  
  
  
“Why didn’t you say anything when I started calling your name? You got chatty immediately when I began calling your name when I … you know, summoned you proper. The first time. Was it just because you were nearby and heard me?”  
  
  
He smiled, but it seemed bitter-sweet. “Lyds … I was sure I’d never hear you say my name ever again. I was fucking stunned, I didn’t even know what to do with myself. Then you said it again, and _again_.” He frowned and looked down into the pillows. Two streaks of blue shot right through his hair.  
  
  
Lydia had began to hate any trace of blue on the top of his head, but she figured they were long overdue for a more serious talk. Might as well get it over with. “I meant what I said when you got here.”  
  
  
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I believe you … now I do, anyway.”  
  
  
“Ok, this is probably a touchy subject, but … Why’d you suddenly want to kill everyone back then? I just … want to _try_ to understand.” Lydia plucked at the end of her pillow, but at least had the courtesy to look at him.  
  
  
He met her eyes for a brief moment before he sighed and shut his eyes. Blue washed through his hair entirely. “I had a feeling you might ask that eventually … I …” He opened his eyes and kept his eyes strictly to the corner of the pillow under his head. “You ran off. I was so sure you just abandoned me when you had no more use of me – like everyone does. It took me until now to start to second-guess that … little late, huh?” He tried another smile, but it slipped off like water off a duck’s back. “You were gonna go get your mom back – y'know, another fucking adult that wouldn’t want us to hang out anymore. I’d go right back to being invisible. I … I fucking lost it. Obviously. I’m … I’m sorry, if that even counts for anything.”  
  
  
Lydia laid still, just listening to him until she was sure he was done. “It does. Thank you.” Lydia waited until Beetlejuice looked up at her to give him a big, slightly emotional smile. “For telling me, and the apology. I didn’t mean – oh, what does it matter. I’m sorry I made you feel I was just gonna abandon you, I really am.”  
  
  
He managed a little smile this time. “So … what were you gonna do then?”  
  
  
Lydia sighed. “I really did want to get my mom back … because I knew she’d understand. She wouldn’t have been like the others, she’d give you a chance. I wanted it to be us three, like some sort of perfect ideal. Me, mom and you. The only two I ever really felt were my friends.”  
  
  
Purple had intermingled into his hair as before, but now it turned back to depressingly blue. “Oh …” was all that came out of him.  
  
  
Lydia shook her head. “See what I mean about us being even? We were both pretty desperate, and did stuff we really shouldn’t have. This is why I wanted to see you again, and … you know, try to clear it all up. I think we finally got through it all now … unless you have anything?”  
  
  
He averted his eyes and shook his head weakly. “No …”  
  
  
Lydia couldn’t bear the guilty grip on her heart, so she moved over and hugged him again.  
  
  
Though Beetlejuice jumped a little, he quickly relaxed this time around to return the favor. “I’m really sorry,” he murmured.  
  
  
“Me too. BFFFFF’s forever, enough apologies?”  
  
  
He chuckled. “Yeah.”  
  
  
Lydia let out a sigh of relief when she moved back to ‘her spot’ that she just made up. “Ok, enough of that! I’m really glad I did it, but that was a little …”  
  
  
Beetlejuice smiled as he rubbed the palm of his hand under his eye to catch a stray tear. “Ouch.”  
  
  
“Yeah, ouch,” Lydia laughed and put her hand to her chest.  
Thankfully he was all back to green again. The good green, since apparently there were different shades of that. Lydia would have to make a little personal list of what they all meant until she learned them all. Wait no, was it darker than before? Maybe Lydia was more tired than she’d like to admit. This was going to be a battle of ‘who can stay awake the longest’.  
“So, how _does_ sleep work for you?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice’s head seemed to weigh heavier on the pillow. “It’s like breather sleep but also not. You just turn off – even more than you guys do. Though it’s more to pass the time than anything else for us. Some people – like the diet Canadians, I assume – sometimes keep up with breathing, even if they don’t have to. That stops when they sleep. Oh, speaking of, newly deceased keep up with sleep out of habit more than passing time, I guess. I dunno.” He gave a sluggish shrug again. His eyelids seem to grow much too heavy for him.  
  
  
Lydia did her best to keep a straight face, despite how fun it was to watch Beetlejuice grow sleepier by the second. _Just to pass time, huh?_ She was hoping he’d fall asleep before her. Then she could be sure he didn’t get up to any shenanigans while she slept – and the thought of him sleeping on the floor if he got too bored waiting instead was a little sad.  
“Do you not dream etiher, then?”  
  
  
After a moment of thought – or maybe he was just about to fall asleep – Beetlejuice finally piped up. “We can have nightmares and night terrors, so I assume dreams are possible too. Doesn’t always happen, though.”  
  
  
Lydia frowned. That … didn’t sound good. She tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. “You have nightmares?”  
  
  
At this point, Beetlejuice had shut his eyes. “Mm-m.”  
  
  
Lydia waited a few seconds. “Beej?” No response. “Beej?” she tried, a little louder. Nothing. He was out as a light. Despite the concerning news that he apparently had nightmares but never had a dream, Lydia smiled. Hopefully he’d have a non-eventful sleep. He said he didn’t need it, but she felt as if he sort of did, albeit in a different sense. A yawn pressed itself out of her, reminding her that she was, in fact, tired herself. She snuck out to turn the lights off and went straight back to bed. Not long after she laid back down in silence, she nodded off as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer!
> 
> The specifics of his hair colors are heavily inspired/mostly yoinked from an image I found online! I went back to check, the artist is juicy-beetles on tumblr as far as I can tell.  
> The idea of a god-awful yellow color for self-loathing is a neat concept I found in another fanfic on this site, and I will add the author once I find it again!


	3. Cat in the Bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia wakes first, and learns Beetlejuice wasn't joking when he said the dead "shut off" when they slept. Perhaps it's not so bad if he stays asleep while she goes down to eat breakfast and "test the waters".

Lydia turned over and groaned into her pillow when she realized she’d forgotten to close the curtains last night. Something caused resistance when she tried to pull on the cover. It took her a second, but then she whipped around. The sun blinded her again, so she sat for a moment until she could shield her eyes enough to actually see. Then she looked to the other side of her bed.   
Lo and behold, the demon that didn’t need sleep was completely still exactly how he had fallen asleep last night. One arm under the pillow, and the covers practically untouched under him. Lydia blinked as the light become bearable and lowered her arm. It was eerie to look at him sleep. He had technically warned her, saying the dead literally shut off when they slept. He really did look – Lydia brought her hand to her face. _He looked dead. No duh.  
_

  
With gentle movements she crawled closer, nearly hanging over him on all four. She didn’t want anyone to hear – now she had less control of who was where. “Beeej?” she whispered. He didn’t so much as flutter an eyelash. Lydia ‘hm’-ed to herself but climbed out of bed instead of trying again. If he woke up with her looming over, he’d have every right to be startled. Beetlejuice was overall a loud guy, so Lydia decided she shouldn’t push her luck. With a constant glare in his direction, Lydia hurried to change out of her PJ’s. He did seem to have _some_ standards, but … it would still be a little icky to her if he just woke up while she was changing, whether he’d want to see or not. _No thank you_. 

  
“Lydia, are you awake? Breakfast’s ready!” Delia sang joyfully.

  
Lydia moved over to her door and opened it. “I’ll be down in a minute!” she chirped, imitating Delia’s joyful tone. When she glanced back, Beetlejuice was as still as ever. If she didn’t know better, she’d get worried about him having died in his sleep. Lydia sighed, hurried over to her desk and scrawled down a quick note. After some consideration, she made another so she could put one on her pillow and the other on the door to the balcony. Whichever way Beetlejuice looked when he woke, he would be able to find at least one note. Lydia nodded at her clever choice before heading downstairs.  
  


They sat for a while with the odd pleasant chit-chat as the living ate their pancakes. Lydia was totally fine at first, but eventually she got a slight unease in her whole body. How was she going to bring this up? She had to eventually …   
If she was going to bring him up, she better start off carefully, right? She could at least test some reactions, that sounded like a good start.  
Lydia waited a little longer, until another quiet moment settled. “Hey … can I ask you something? All of you?”  
  


“Ask away,” Adam encouraged with a big, friendly smile.  
  


Lydia pursed her lips briefly. _Oh well, here goes nothing._ “Do any of you guys ever … ehh, like … think about Beetlejuice? Like at all?”

  
There went a collective shudder between the parent quartet when she mentioned his name. The pleasant silence turned ominous in a split second.   
Suddenly Delia shook her head and gave a determined look. “No, she’s allowed to ask! We said we’d get better at communication,” she exclaimed. Lydia shot her a grateful look, which got her a proud smile in return.  
  


“We’ve tried our best not to,” Adam admitted with strain in his voice.  
  


Barbara sighed. “But we can understand if you do. Delia’s right, you should be allowed to ask.” She gave a soft look across the table. “He hasn’t bothered you in any way to make you think of him again, right?”  
  


Lydia firmly shook her head. “No, no, nothing like that.” Well, it was true enough, he hadn’t _bothered her_.  
  


“You two were on good terms for a while there, weren’t you?” Lydia nearly gaped at her father when he eventually looked at her with an understanding glance.  
  


“Yeah!” she hurried to agree, nodding along. “Yeah … I just … kind of feel a little bad for him, maybe?” Oh boy, she was starting to crack already.  
  


That promptly shut the ghosts up. Ever-brave Delia decided to take the bait. “How so?”  
  
  
Lydia sighed. “I’ve thought about it a lot, obviously, and I think he might have been doing some really bad things out of desperation – just like me. I mean, he turned himself around before he left. He had every right to … not bother. Right?”  
Adam and Barbara immediately riled up to defend Lydia’s choices. Lydia put her hand up and just about dared to give them a stern look. “I know, I know I had every right to do what I did … but nobody’s really asked for his side of the story,” she lied with surprising ease. “I know he did _bad_ , but … it won’t stop bothering me that I don’t know _if_ maybe he had some semblance of a reason behind it, too.”  
  


Adam scratched his neck. “That … is very thoughtful of you to consider, Lydia,” he eventually let out.  
  


“Is there any way we could help relieve your mind of that problem?” Delia cocked her head curiously.   
  
  
Lydia swallowed. “I’m … guessing none of you’d be okay with summoning him to ask …”  
  
  
“ _Absolutely not!_ ” Adam exclaimed.  
  
  
“Not happening,” her dad sternly shot in.  
  
  
“There is no way we’d do that,” Barbara determined, putting her hands up.  
  
  
Delia hesitated, letting Lydia just barely pick up the three jumbled first responses. “Lydia, dear,” she began mildly. Lydia withheld a sigh. “Had it been just you that was affected by him, I might be tempted to support you on this, but … He’s bad news and bad memories for all of us.” Lydia opened her mouth, but Delia was quicker. “Granted, you also have good memories. I get it, Lydia … at least to a certain degree,” she added with great sincerity. “I get why you have an easier time empathizing.”  
  
  
Lydia nodded and ate the last piece of her pancake. “And I understand why you guys don’t. I just needed to ask, air it out, you know?” She tried a smile but couldn’t keep it for long.   
  
  
The adults all collectively frowned with a little less tension in their eyes. “It’s okay, Lydia. Better than to bottle it up, glad you trusted us enough to talk about it.” Delia smiled and patted Lydia on the head when she got up to clean up their plates.  
  
  
“Thanks for listening,” Lydia said and got up. This was going to be difficult. “Oh, and thanks for breakfast.”  
She heard the Maitlands begin to speak in hushed voices when she left the room. Lydia ignored it to the best of her abilities and hurried upstairs.  
  


When she returned to her room and found Beetlejuice _still_ hadn’t moved, Lydia finally decided to wake him. Well, at least she’d try harder this time. Lydia took a moment to breathe before she walked over, concerned she might take her frustrations out on Beetlejuice. Not that she could actually harm him by shaking him silly, but it was unnecessary.  
“Beej?” Lydia sat down on the middle of the bed, keeping a little distance just in case. “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeej. _Beej._ ” She sighed. Against her better judgement she moved closer. “Hey, Beej, come on.” Whenever he finally woke up, she was going to ask him for a sure-fire way to wake him for next time. “Beej,” Lydia repeated, leaning closer to his face. She didn’t dare yell at him, in fear of being overheard if someone were outside. Lydia sighed heavily and ran a hand aimlessly through his hair.  
Just like she had half-heartedly hoped, that was a random enough moment for him to wake up as if summoned by a cousin of murphy’s law. Well, at least he stirred as if he was going to wake up.  
Lydia smirked and began to ruffle his hair, since her hand was already entangled into it. “Come on, sleepy-head. Sleepyjuice!” she teased.  
  


Beetlejuice let out a grumble followed by a hoarse yelp. Finally he moved properly and opened his eyes. “Whu- huh?”  
  
  
Lydia snickered as she sat back. “Morning,” she chirped, with the most annoying “morning person” tone she could manage.  
  
  
Beetlejuice blinked many times before he squinted up at her. His hair fell in his face when Lydia stopped messing with it. Then it seemed to hit him. “Lyds?” He looked at where he was and sat up like the pillow had burned him. “Shit! I fell asleep?”  
  
  
“Shh, careful, Adam or Barbra could hear you on their way back to the attic.” Lydia put a finger to her mouth but eventually gave the confused demon a reassuring smile. “Yeah, you fell asleep before me. Now I’ve learned that you sleep like a rock, so I’m glad I just let you be last night. That was a joke. You looked tired, and it’s really not a problem that you took up some space in the bed. It’s big enough.”  
  
  
He ran a hand through his hair and yawned. “Ya could’ve shoved me out.”   
  
  
Lydia sighed. “Did you sleep well?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. Uh … thanks.”  
  
  
“Not too soft after all, huh?” Lydia teased and punched him lightly on the arm.  
  
  
“’S alright,” he waved her off. They exchanged a smirk. “So, you’re all dressed up. What’d I miss?”  
  
  
Lydia sighed and flopped over on her side. “I just went down for breakfast.” She smiled and picked the note off her pillow, showing it to him. “In case you woke up while I was gone.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice blinked, then got the dumbest smile on his face. Lydia gave a proud grin.   
She hadn’t actually written anything on the note – she had drawn a stick figure with her hair on it, a house, some food and an arrow, signaling she had gone down for food. She remembered his reading wasn’t particularly the best, if he could even read at all. Luckily he seemed to appreciate it.  
  
  
Lydia put the note back down and sat back up. “Well … Ok, I might have tested the waters a bit while I was there.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes. “Which waters?”  
  
  
Lydia cleared her throat awkwardly. “I asked them if any of them had … thought about you since what happened. You know, to try and ease the topic in?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice gave a bark of laughter. “Oh boy. How did that go?” The way he said it indicated he already had a pretty clear idea.  
  
  
Sigh. “Not great.” Lydia held up her hand when he got the biggest “I knew it” smirk she’d ever seen. “But not _terrible_ either. Let me explain.” She put her hands together and glared at them for a while, trying to figure out the best way of explaining herself. “So, basically … they all freaked … _gently_ when I mentioned your name.”  
  
  
“How the freezing fuck do you freak gently?” For a moment Beetlejuice looked like he tried to solve a small whiteboard’s worth of mathematical equations.  
  
  
“They just all kinda …” Lydia imitated the little shudder she had seen go through all of her parents. “But then it just went to awkward silence until Delia said that I should, in fact, be allowed to ask.” Lydia rolled her eyes but smiled at the same time. “She’s doubling up on the whole ‘we need to get better at communication’ and … I don’t know, I thought it was really sweet. Not to mention helpful! I thought I lost at the first hurdle for a moment back there.” She sighed.  
  
  
“Then what?”   
  
  
“Right, right. Then I tried to explain myself a little better … You know, a little bit of what I told you to explain why I summoned you back, a little bit of what you told me, just … you know, I made it sound like it was all my speculations. Sooo I might have … sold myself a little too sweet, but, uh … details.” Lydia faked a cough. “Anyways, they still weren’t very keen on it, obviously, but I think I at least … softened the blow, a little bit – maybe?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice rolled his eyes. “Please, Lyds. The dead softies couldn’t be mad at you if they tried, no matter what you did. Except possibly summoning me back without them knowing, but … details.” He just smirked when she gave him a sour look. “What, I’m right!”  
  
  
Lydia sighed heavily. “Maybe you are. Well, at least dad and Delia didn’t seem too shaken after the initial …” She mimicked the shiver again. “It was nice when dad was the one pointing out that we were on good terms in the beginning. Like we are now,” she hastily added, gripped by a sudden worry that Beetlejuice would get the wrong idea if she didn’t.  
  
  
He sat silent for a while, clearly thinking about something. “What do ya think would happen if I just flew up to the folks in the attic and said hi?”  
  
  
Lydia waved her hands frantically. “Don’t do that, please don’t do that! We have to do this smart, or else it’ll just be a mess!”  
  
  
“I’m pretty sure it will be no matter what you do, or what I do for that manner.” He raised a brow.  
  
  
“Maybe so, but I want to at least try to make it easier on everyone,” Lydia insisted, giving him a pleading look.  
  
  
Beetlejuice sighed. “Ok, we’ll do things your way. What’s the plan, Babes?”  
  
  
Lydia hesitated for a few seconds. “I think I need to talk to them more separately and just … take it slow.” She looked Beetlejuice up and down. She knew it couldn’t be rushed, but how much time did she really have with his patience? Was he just going to be stuck in her room until she felt it was time? Lydia frowned. “Okay, I don’t really have a plan, Beej,” she admitted. “Do you think you can manage to stay in here for a few days while I try things out?”  
  
  
While he didn’t look ecstatic about it exactly, Beetlejuice eventually nodded. “I can do that for ya, sure.”  
  
  
Lydia beamed. “Thank you, Beej. I’ll be with you most of the time when I’m not trying to … uh deal with everything. Oh, actually … you could probably come with me to school on Monday, then you’re not completely holed up in here.”  
  
  
“Do I get to scare the other kids?”  
  
  
Lydia couldn’t help but smirk at the thought. “You can. Some of the other kids are already convinced that I’m a witch anyway … maybe that will keep the worst of them away if they think I cursed them.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice’s hair turned a muted red in the blink of an eye. “Some of them bothering ya?” His eyes had turned an ominously deeper red.  
  
  
Lydia blinked, not sure if she should regret telling him or be flattered by how quickly he got ready to avenge her. “Oh, you know … They don’t wanna get too close. Mostly just cold stares and the odd comment. I’ll survive,” she said, cherry-picking her words like never before. It was a little worse off in reality, but … well, if they decided to be extra nasty on Monday they’d come to regret it either way Lydia figured, with a twinge of sadistic glee.  
Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes and let out a gruff ‘hm’. It wasn’t hard to tell he was already plotting.  
“Don’t kill anyone.”  
  
  
“How about horribly maim?”  
  
  
“Keep it to scares, Beej. They’re not getting physical with me. Besides, that would just complicate things if kids were horribly maimed at school with no apparent cause.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice groaned, but put his hands up in defeat. “Fine! But those scares are gonna be intense if I see any of them bothering ya.”  
  
  
“Thanks, Beej.” Lydia gave him a grateful smile.  
  
  
His hair went back to green, with the red lingering at his tips for a few seconds. “I’m not just gonna let some small-town idiots pick on _my_ BFFFFF forever and get away with it, no way!” Beetlejuice smiled and ruffled her hair. “We’ll show them what for, Babes.”  
  
  
He meant well, he really did. Beetlejuice had the best of intentions, Lydia knew that. She just had to make sure he didn’t overdo it and convince her parents to believe it, too. Ideally she’d love to show them, but she wasn’t sure how to do that. They’d probably frown upon their choice of pestering mean kids into leaving Lydia alone, so that wouldn’t do as a good example. She couldn’t really force it, either, that defeated the point. Another problem for another day she decided, just about holding back a sigh.  
  
  
“Penny for your thoughts, Lyds.” Beetlejuice smirked and tapped his finger on her forehead.  
  
  
“You’d need a whole dollar for all of the ones I just had,” she replied jokingly and waved his hand away.   
  
  
Lydia felt like she should go see if any of her parents happened to be by themselves already but hesitated a little longer. Now how would she make sure Beetlejuice stayed put in her room when he was wide awake and as energetic as ever? A most horrible thought crossed her mind when she spotted her phone on her night table. No, she was absolutely not giving him her phone like he was a literal toddler in need of the simplest of distractions. Though … it might work for now while she tried to come up with something better for next time.   
  
  
“Lyyyyds, you’re doing it again. Come on, what’s going on?”  
  
  
Lydia jumped a little. “Sorry, I just –” She stopped abruptly when she noticed Beetlejuice looked a little concerned. Lydia felt her cheeks warm up. What was that about trust that they had discussed last night? Now she felt horrible for even considering the phone option. “I thought about looking around to see if I can find Delia or maybe Barbara … just one of them, preferably alone. Would you be okay on your own for a little while?”  
  
  
He rolled his eyes. “What do I look like, some sort of overgrown toddler? Yeah, I’ll manage.”  
  
  
“Well, after the shower and a change of clothes you _do_ look softer …” Lydia said, pretending to think.  
  
  
“DON’T REMIND ME!” he howled, put an arm to his forehead and fell back onto the pillows.  
  
  
Lydia giggled. “Shh!” Yet she couldn’t be mad. “Ok, I’ll go check the kitchen for parents.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice sat up with a smile when she hopped out of bed. “Don’t be too long, or I’ll start looking through your stuff out of boredom,” he jokingly threatened.   
  
  
“Very funny, Beej,” Lydia replied. Good thing he couldn’t really read – even if he found her diary she’d still feel pretty safe. “I’ll try to make it quick!” She waved him goodbye before she left the room, receiving a very energetic wave in return.   
He was _a little_ like an overgrown toddler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The parent quartet are here! ... Aaaand they're gone, yeah I know, sorry. They'll all start to make appearances from here on out, though!
> 
> Honestly I dread writing the Maitlands. They're so nice, how am I going to make them even moderate obstacles without tearing their characters a fresh new inconsistency? Sigh. Love'em though, honest.


	4. Easy Does It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia goes to talk to one of her parents at a time, and finds Barbara alone in the kitchen. To her further joy, Barbara is very willing to give the talk a new chance.  
> Lydia finds out she doesn't need to twist her own words as much as she expected.

Lydia could hear Barbara’s joyful humming before she reached the bottom of the stairs. Following the tune led Lydia right back to the kitchen. “Hey, Barbara,” she called as she walked through the doorway. She was alone, finishing up the dishes by the looks of it. _Excellent_.  
  
  
Barbara turned her head and smiled when she saw who came in. “Oh, hi Lydia. You know, I’m glad you’re here, I wanted to talk to you.”  
  
  
Lydia walked over to the kitchen island and leaned on it, facing Barbara. “Hey, same. You wanna go first?” She already had a fairly good idea about what the topic would be, so it didn’t matter who started.  
  
  
“Oh, there’s no hurry, it’s just something I wanted to get out of the way when I saw you again. You go first,” she chirped.   
  
  
“I have a feeling it’s the same topic, so go ahead.” Lydia shrugged.  
  
  
“Is it related to what we were talking about earlier?” Barbara put the last plate up to dry before turning to Lydia with a mild frown. When Lydia nodded, Barbara sighed softly. “Ok. I’m over the first shock now, and I thought about what you said, what Delia said …” She put her hands together neatly in front of her and looked at Lydia with an apologetic expression. “I am sorry for how I reacted, dear.” She held one hand up quietly when Lydia tried to intervene. “Of course, I still don’t exactly want _him_ back in the house, but I’ve come to realize it’s been months now, and that all things considered we all have it very good here together. I don’t want that to get damaged just because of this. I want you to be able to trust me, trust _us_ that you can bring up whatever is bothering you, no matter the topic.”   
  
  
Lydia smiled, bringing a smile to Barbara’s face as well. “Thank you, Barbara. I get why you guys reacted the way you did, I just didn’t know any better way of … uh, bringing up the topic. It’s been gnawing in the back of my head for … a while now.”  
  
  
Barbara nodded patiently. “It’s okay, sweetie, no harm done. What I also wanted to do to make it up to you was to give you another chance to talk about it. You can talk to me about anything if you want, even if it’s him, I’ll do a better job listening this time.   
Oh, I mean that any time, of course! Now or later, both are totally fine. You wanted to talk now though, didn’t you?” That familiar motherly smile had a warmth to it that made her look practically alive.  
  
  
“Yeah, I think I might as well,” Lydia started. Her shoulders dropped a notch in relief. “Uhh … where do I start.” She furrowed her brows and tried to figure out a good order of business.  
  
  
Barbara walked over and joined her by the kitchen island. “How long has he been on your mind?”  
  
  
Lydia laughed briefly. “I don’t think he really ever left, which I bet he’d love to hear.” Hopefully he wasn’t eavesdropping, or she’d never hear the end of it. Lydia cleared her throat awkwardly and looked down at the marble plate. “No, but on a serious note. I didn’t exactly want him back either, obviously, but … He saved us in the end, you know? He didn’t have to do that. That’s one of the things I couldn’t just shake off.”   
When Lydia met Barbara’s eyes again, her ghost mom simply nodded understandingly.  
“As time passes, I just get more convinced that he wanted to turn it around – for real, I mean. As in, I believe that he really did change!” Lydia bit her lip. “That means he never got the chance to prove it to any of us, or … you know. Now I might never know if maybe he didn’t have as bad intentions as we might have thought.” Lydia took a deep breath and balled up her fists. “Looking back, there’s a lot of things I did that I regret – _deeply_. And I know I might have had my reasons, but that doesn’t mean _he_ didn’t have some of his own. As great as we’re all doing as one big, happy family, I can’t help but feel he got … left out. When – when maybe he could be just as deserving of forgiveness as me.”  
  
  
Barbara rubbed her supportively on the back. “Adam was right earlier. It really is very thoughtful of you, and even if it’s toward him I’m proud of you for being so considerate.” She laughed a little. “There’s not many people that I know that would be this understanding after everything you went through in particular.”  
  
  
Lydia looked up and smiled before she remembered something she didn’t plan to bring up. Lydia swallowed and looked away. How could she have forgotten? “There’s something I never really told any of you about … When I first met him on the roof, his hair was purple in the beginning. It didn’t look like a good emotion, he seemed just … like just kinda upset, at least until when he realized I could see him. When he did …” Lydia paused, not expecting to get emotional.  
  
  
“It’s ok, Lydia, take your time.” Barbara rubbed comforting circles between her shoulder blades until she began to speak again. While she looked concerned, she waited for Lydia to continue before saying anything else.  
  
  
“Barbara, he just lit up with bright green in an instant. He was _so happy_ for a few seconds just because I could see him. If only …” Lydia sighed and shook her head for a moment. She didn’t bother to finish the sentence, knowing all too well there was no going back and fixing it. She had to focus, so she could fix things going _forward_.  
  
  
“Oh, sweetheart,” Barbara uttered softly. She put an arm around Lydia and hugged her. “This really has been bothering you, hasn’t it? I wish you’d have brought it up sooner, though I can’t really blame you.”  
  
  
Lydia leaned into it for a moment, then straightened up. “See, in the start it went well, even if I rejected him in a pretty cruel way … after he saved my life …” Lydia groaned at herself but refused to think too hard about it right now. If she did, she’d get all kinds of emotional. “Anyway, everything was fine between us until I started obsessing over finding my mom. When I think back, I know very well what I _meant_ to happen. I’d get him to help me get my mom back, and then the three of us would be the best of friends, the end. Though … I didn’t really let him in on that last part, so to him it probably seemed like I just dropped him when I got what I wanted from him. Then I used his own desperate scheme against him just to rob him of the one thing he wanted! I’m _not_ some innocent, well-meaning doll in this story, Barbara, I did bad too and I _cannot_ stop thinking about it all!” She slammed her hands into the marble plate, immediately regretted it and quickly put her hands down by her sides. “Sorry.”  
  
  
Ghost mom shook her head and smiled. “It’s okay, Lydia. Go on.”  
  
  
Lydia nodded. “So uh … I guess the real reason I would even ask about bringing him back is because I kind of sometimes really feel a need to figure out if I’m right or if he’s as horrible as ever … maybe? I just … I want closure, you know?” She tried a smile, but it didn’t feel right. Barbara remained silent, though she had a skeptical wrinkle between her brows. Lydia decided to continue anyways. “My crazy idea was kinda like … if he’s still all bad news, then we could banish him again and be done, ya know? I wouldn’t need to go around wondering if I should feel bad for him or not … but if he is deserving of it, then … you know.” She pursed her lips. “I also do actually … _really_ miss him.”   
  
  
Even though Lydia knew so well that Beetlejuice was in the house right over her head somewhere she felt her eyes sting a little. There had been a lot more coming from her heart than she’d expected it to. The last part just fell out of her before she could stop to think it through. Well, even if she had to tell a few white lies, this was how she truly felt – this was why she’d summoned him in the first place, damn it!  
  
  
It took a while for Barbara to reply. She looked to be lost in thought for several seconds. Suddenly, she closed her eyes for a moment. When Barbara opened them, she gave Lydia a soft smile. “I’m glad we had this talk. Do you feel a little better now?”  
  
  
“Yeah,” Lydia replied, unsure if she was lying or not.  
  
  
“This is a lot, obviously, but now things make a little more sense. You’re okay if I take this up with Adam, right? I think maybe we should have a talk about this, too. I’d hate for you to go around carrying all of that … maybe we can find a way to meet half-way.”  
  
  
Lydia swallowed a scream and nodded instead. “Sure. Thanks for listening, again.”  
  
  
Barbara smiled, kissed Lydia on the head and moved a little away. “You’re welcome.”  
  
  
Lydia put on a smile before heading back upstairs.   
  
  
The moment she got up, she took a deep breath and muffled a long, frustrated noise into her elbow. That felt like it had gone nowhere. Why’d she have to go and trip over her emotions still? Now she probably just muddled her chances by coming off as confused and lost! She should be over these things by now, she’d had a serious talk with Beetlejuice and all. Lydia took a deep breath and sighed with all her might. Maybe she wasn’t over it at all. _Maybe_ she should have tried to get Delia and her dad on board first, then got them to help her out with talking to the Maitlands.  
Maybe she should just follow her own advice and take it slow. Go back to her room, hang out with Beetlejuice and just let things settle before she made any more moves on this mess. Yeah. Maybe she should. Lydia looked around to make sure nobody was with her to have seen her little silent monologue and/or freakout, then hurried back to her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Irregular schedule she warns in tags, then proceeds to post a chapter every day for four consecutive days ... I'll keep that tag for safety.)
> 
> A shorter chapter this time. Thought I'd rather do it this way around than farting out a potentially _very_ long chapter. Besides, I get to play with more fun chapter titles this way! :D 
> 
> Lord I hope I did Barbara justice. Funny thing with me is I can take absolute bastards, like Beetlejuice (love him, I swear), and have no issue softening them to mush if I feel like it, but writing genuinely sweet, goody-goody nice people? That's a challenge! Huh.


	5. Couple'o Weirdos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia returns from a less than ideal chat with Barbara, at least on her part, to find Beetlejuice did, in fact, get bored. To her chagrin, it turns out there was one thing she should've worried about when he threatened to look through her stuff after all, and it was not her diary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally found back to the writer I got the "ugly yellow means self-loathing" thing from! They're called Mintea_in_Space, and the fic in particular where I personally found the concept is called "Tar in His Veins".  
> Feels a little better when I can at least give credit.

The first thing Lydia noticed when she got back inside was Beetlejuice standing by her desk. He had his back towards her, and Lydia could see at least one open drawer. _Of course, he got bored -_  
  
  
He also had half a rainbow in his hair.  
  
  
Lydia closed the door softly behind her and furrowed her brows with concern. Purple wasn’t good, she knew that for sure. Blue was sad – though this was a lighter blue than earlier. Orange and yellow she couldn’t quite place, but the cotton candy pink was definitely his version of blushing. In short, Lydia had _no_ idea what to really expect when she slowly made her way over to him. “Beej?” No response. Lydia decided to circle around to his side, keeping a little distance for when he’d inevitably realize she was there.  
  
  
Eventually it all hit her like a semi-truck. Beetlejuice was staring vacantly down into his hand. In it was a – no, _the_ ring.  
 _  
  
Well then_.  
  
  
Lydia could recognize that thing anywhere. It was a very simple ring when it came down to it. Gold, not particularly thick but with just enough width to house a row of three little, green gemstones. She ended up staring at it for a while herself before she managed to rip her gaze away to look up at her BFFFFF. He looked as conflicted as his hair would suggest. She began to wonder how long he’d been standing like this.  
Lydia sighed, stepped closer and put her hand gently on his arm. “Beetlejuice.”  
  
  
Of course, he still jumped. Beetlejuice’s hair turned white like snow. He clasped his hands together as if scared to lose the ring and spun on his heel to face her. When he recognized her, the white gave way and for the first time Lydia got to see him with _all_ _pink_ hair. It only lasted for a second before bright yellow came through in thin streaks. She didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for him.  
  
  
“H-hi Babes,” he stuttered.  
  
  
Lydia gave him a knowing smile. “You got bored, didn’t you?”  
  
  
He opened his mouth, but gave up soon after. With another glance down at his hands, he tried again. “You … kept it.” Even his voice was difficult to decipher. As Beetlejuice put one hand down, they both ended up glancing down at the ring.  
  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
  
For a while, none of them spoke. Like lightning from clear skies, Beetlejuice threw his hand sideways, tossing the ring onto Lydia’s desk like it had burned him. He turned around and marched back to bed without another word. His hair turned black at the roots, and the rest -  
 _“Hell, Lyds …_ I _hate me!”_  
She heard it echo in the back of her mind, and she instantly knew. It was that exact same _putrid_ yellow shade.  
  
  
“So, did ya find anyone?” Beetlejuice tried to casually throw himself onto the bed, as if his voice, hair or body language didn't already betray him many times over.  
  
  
Lydia grabbed the ring and closed her fist around it. “Don’t. We’re talking about this,” she insisted.  
  
  
“No we’re not.”  
  
  
“Yes we are.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice groaned. “Can’t we just pretend I never saw the damn thing?”  
  
  
“ _No._ ” Lydia walked over to the bed and crossed her arms.  
  
  
“Why not?!” Beetlejuice sat up and gave her a frustrated glare. When Lydia gave a concerned glance up at his hair, he only got more agitated. Beetlejuice let out a feral noise reminiscent of a snarl and dug his hands up into his hair. Despite his efforts, it was all too clear to see the tips of his hair poking out between his fingers when they turned a fiery red. “Oh, who _cares_ what _stupid fucking color_ my hair has!? I don’t wanna talk about it!” Beetlejuice gritted his teeth as if he was in pain, pulling his knees up to his chest.  
  
  
“Beej, it’s okay,” Lydia began, looking at him unflinchingly.  
  
  
Beetlejuice aggressively shook his head and closed his eyes. “ _No!_ I don’t wanna! I don’t even wanna _think_ about it!” To Lydia’s surprise, he curled up more, hands still clawing onto his own hair and his head between his knees as if he was trying to hide.  
  
  
Lydia couldn’t help but feel bad for him. She closed the distance between them and sat down on the edge of the bed before speaking up. “But you are.”  
  
  
“I’m trying not to!” It came out as a strained, muffled whimper.  
  
  
“No, Beej, I get it,” Lydia insisted, trying her best to also sound soothing. “I didn’t want to think about any of this either. I wanted to forget any of it ever happened.”  
  
  
“Then why didn’t you get rid of it?”  
  
  
Lydia pulled herself further in on the bed and turned so they were facing each other – or would, if Beetlejuice didn’t hide his head. “I couldn’t.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice stirred, and Lydia noticed him moving his head just enough to peer out through his arms at her. “Wh – whaddya mean?”  
  
  
Lydia shrugged and gave him a lopsided smile. “I tried. I threw it in the trash a few times, but … every time I picked it back out later. I was really mad at myself for doing it, too. Then I stopped when I realized why. Or, you know, I think I realized why.” Lydia smiled a little wider when Beetlejuice put his arms around his knees instead, now able to at least see the upper half of his face. The red was gone. “I thought I wanted to get rid of it so badly because it was the last physical reminder I had of you. I mean, it was, but that wasn’t … why I wanted to get rid of it.” She felt her own smile slip off. “It’s also a reminder of what _I_ did, all the things I regret doing, even if it ended well for me. That’s what I _actually_ wanted to get rid of … but even when I threw the ring away, it never took the guilt with it. It just made me feel even worse, and I think it might be because I felt even _more_ guilty about throwing it away like I threw away my chance to do things differently … better.” Lydia put her knees up to her chest and mirrored Beetlejuice’s pose without really thinking about it.  
  
  
She could still see the sickly yellow in streaks, but now most of his hair was blue, with green peeking out at the roots, barely noticeable. Beetlejuice furrowed his brows and looked away for a moment.  
  
  
“Do you still have yours?” Lydia asked quietly.  
  
  
Nod. “Not … on me, but I know where it is,” he admitted reluctantly.  
  
  
“Why’d you keep it?” Lydia tilted her head curiously.  
  
  
The gross yellow finally made way for a wash of light pink. “I … It’s stupid. Like, _reaaally_ stupid,” he grumbled into his arm, refusing to look her in the eyes.  
  
  
Lydia leaned to the side and summoned her best puppy eyes. “Pleeeaaaaase?” Voice soft like a cotton ball.  
  
  
Beetlejuice gave her a distressed look. “That’s cheating!”  
  
  
Maybe it was. Lydia just kept looking at him.  
  
  
He whined and groaned, but eventually knocked his head into his arm a couple of times and faced her more properly. “Ok, ok, fine!” Still with pink patches throughout his hair, he reluctantly gave in. “Just … ya gotta promise not to laugh, alright? Or … make funny faces, or … j-just don’t laugh … please.”  
  
  
“Beetlejuice. I promise I won’t laugh,” Lydia interrupted calmly.  
  
  
He stopped and nodded nervously. “It’s … kinda like what you said earlier. It’s the only thing I had to remember ya by …” Beetlejuice grimaced at his own words. “Ugh … Y’know. I wish I had something else, but I don’t – erh, didn’t. It was all I had, so … I hid it away but never got rid of it.” His entire hair flushed pink again. “I’d take it out sometimes and just look at it for fuck knows how long,” he muttered, trying to curl up and hide again. Lydia just about managed to make out the words. “And … maybe imagine what it’d be like if I hadn’t gotten so obsessed with becoming human.” Beetlejuice sighed and leaned his head on his knee. “It’s so weird, Lyds. _I_ _don’t do these things_. I do whatever the hell I want, and I don’t look back. With this, it … it doesn’t go away! It’s like it’s … haunting me.” He gave a weak bark of laughter. “Imagine that, something haunting _me_. Fuck … See, told you it was stupid.”  
  
  
“No, it’s not stupid,” Lydia argued, “it’s guilt.”  
  
  
“Stupid guilt,” Beetlejuice grumbled.  
  
  
Lydia began to smile. “Maybe you think so, but I don’t. To me it’s proof that there is _something_ in here,” she reached out and ruffled his hair, patting him on the head, “that is capable of feeling bad about doing bad things. That is a _good thing_ , Beej.”  
  
  
“If you insist … doesn’t feel like it, though.”  
  
  
A giggle escaped her involuntarily. “Beej, it’s not supposed to! That’s how you know you’ve done something you shouldn’t have, so you can try to fix it.” Lydia frowned and cocked her head. “Wait … if you’ve never felt like that before, why’d you come back and save me from Juno?”  
  
  
“’Cause when I was alive for just a few minutes it was so …” Beetlejuice gestured wildly, finally unlocking from the near fetal position he had been in. “So _much!_ A billion things all at once, and you guys deal with that on a regular fucking basis – probably with like a million more things on top. Despite all of that, you can be robbed of that shit in an instant by pretty much anything … I don’t know, it didn’t feel riii … _Ooh_ …” He trailed off and got a look of realization on his whole face.  
  
  
Lydia just smiled like an idiot. “I thought there might be something to it,” she stated proudly. She knew it. She was right – and she had been right to bring him back and give him a second chance! All there was left to do was to find as good way of breaking the news and make the parents trust him enough to prove he could be good. To prove he was at least _trying._ He just needed some help … from actual adults, not just Lydia.  
“Hey, Beej … I just got an idea. What if, since neither of us have the … uhh proverbial heart to get rid of the rings … we try to make them into something good?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice tilted his head until it looked ready to pop off. “How the hell would we do that?” The curious look in his eyes went directly against his doubtful words.  
  
  
Lydia grinned wide and hopped out of bed, still holding the ring in her hand. “See, I have some spare necklace chains. If you get yours, we can make them into friendship necklaces! Erh … really weird friendship necklaces with a messed-up backstory, but uhh … you know,” she rambled sheepishly.  
  
  
Beetlejuice lit up – almost literally as his hair flourished back into one hundred percent green. “Just like us!” he cheered.  
  
  
Lydia laughed, but not because it was particularly funny. She was just so happy with his reaction. “Hey, you’re right! I didn’t even think about how perfect that was!”  
  
  
Beetlejuice nodded energetically. “Alright, you’ve sold me on the idea, let’s do this.” He snapped his fingers and held his hand out flat.  
  
A ring, the exact duplicate of Lydia’s by the looks of it, popped into existence and landed in his hand. She’d never really noticed what his had looked like – she didn’t exactly pay attention the first time around. Lydia suppressed a giggle. Of course Beetlejuice just made two rings which were the exact same, what did he know of wedding ring standards? That just went really well with the friendship necklace idea, though.  
Lydia fished out two chains, picking the two that seemed to be in the best condition and fumbled for a moment with the locks. Beetlejuice came floating over, and once Lydia assembled the newly dubbed friendship necklaces, she put them both on. First his, then she put hers around her own neck with a little more difficulty.  
  
  
“Ta-daa!” Lydia put her arms out.  
Beetlejuice lifted the necklace up and looked at it for a moment, then he grinned wide again before promptly picking Lydia up in a big hug.  
Lydia yelped at first, surprised when he initiated it this time, but soon she laughed and hugged him back. “Ok, ok, I did actually find Barbara and talked to her. Want me to tell you what happened now?”  
  
  
“Yeah, go ahead, Babes.” Beetlejuice let her back down and Lydia hopped onto the chair by her desk before she started retelling him the whole conversation from the start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of course there had to be more emotional drama. 
> 
> And of course I had to give it a so-fluffy-you-could-die solution. The idea wouldn't leave my mind, ok? Had to put it somewhere.
> 
> Also I'm not aware if there is a specific design to the rings and I decided early on to just wing it, forgive me for my maybe-sins.


	6. Mild Winds of Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncertain of how to move forward with her little conundrum, Lydia decides to just let it simmer while she keeps both herself and Beetlejuice distracted.  
> Delia nearly forces them to deal with the problem the way Beetlejuice wants to do it.

“… so basically I think I just wasted time for everyone involved,” Lydia eventually finished with a heavy sigh.  
  
  
“I’m still convinced this would go a lot faster if they just got to flip their shit for a second and then you pull those puppy eyes on them.” Beetlejuice shrugged.  
  
  
“You think that would fix everything, huh?”  
  
  
He put his arms out and smirked. “Worked on me, didn’t it?”  
  
  
Lydia pinched the bridge of her nose. “These are two very different scenarios, Beej.”  
  
  
“Well, Babs said they would talk about it, right? I don’t think she’s capable of lying even if it could save – well, somebody _else’s_ life, I guess. That’s gotta be good for something, right?”  
  
  
“Are you being optimistic?” Lydia looked at him, a laugh waiting at the back of her throat.  
  
  
Beetlejuice put his hands up. “Come on, Lyds, need I remind you which utter dweebs we’re talking about here? You’re making a storm out of a raindrop!”  
  
  
The sound of a tap on the balcony doors made them both briefly jump – Beetlejuice literally so.  
Lydia looked at the rain starting to fall outside. “Did you do that?” she asked teasingly.  
  
  
Beetlejuice took a little longer to calm down but when he did, he turned back to her with a lopsided smile. “Babes, if that was me, it would’ve been in here.”  
  
  
She couldn’t help herself. “Wow, longing for another shower already?”  
  
  
For just a couple triumphant seconds, he stood in stunned silence. “That was _not_ what I meant!” he argued abruptly, waving his hands in front of him.  
  
  
Lydia giggled. “I had to.” With a little hop, she got up and walked over to look out. The rain wasn’t much to write home about. She could even see the end of the raincloud from her balcony door if she squinted a little. “Oh, wow, it’s windy outside.” The trees at the edge of the forest were all swaying the same way. That explained the sudden rain, she supposed, though she still threw a suspicious glance back at Beetlejuice.  
  
  
“I didn’t do it, I swear!”  
  
  
Lydia smiled and gave him a pat on the back on her way back. “Ok, ok, I believe you. Hey, wanna look at some bugs?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice lit up. “Can I eat some?”  
  
  
“No!” Lydia exclaimed abruptly, then blinked. “Partially because it’s just pictures.”  
  
  
“Aww … Okay!” He quickly perked up again and floated over to Lydia when she brought out a black album with cobweb print all over the outside.  
  


They must have easily spent an hour looking at and chatting about the bugs Lydia had snapped pictures of since the _incident_. There were a lot of funky bugs in this area that she had spent a lot of time photographing to take her mind off of … everything, really. She had to admit, it was great to have Beetlejuice back so she could share these photos with someone that were as fascinated by creepy crawlies as her – for different reasons, maybe, but still.  
  
  
Beetlejuice’s eyes went as wide as they would go when he snuck a look at the next pages. “There’s still more?! Wow, Lyds, you must have pictures of every single bug in town.”  
  
  
She chuckled. “Yeah, I filled the entire album. There’s more than a few bugs I’ve taken pictures of before, though. I just kept looking around for bugs with my camera whenever I wanted to get away from everything. Besides, there’s _a lot more_ to take pictures of out here than there ever was in New York. For me, anyway.”  
 _  
  
Knock, knock!_  
  
  
They both locked eyes with the door.  
  
  
“Lydia? Are you busy, can I come in?”  
  
  
Lydia threw a look back at Beetlejuice. He snapped his fingers, and then he was gone. Lydia cleared her throat and turned towards the door. “Oh, it’s okay, you can come in.”  
  
  
Delia opened the door and snuck her head in first, an apologetic smile on her face. “Did I interrupt anything? It sounded like you were talking to someone.” When she saw nobody else in the room, Delia stepped in and closed the door softly behind her. At least she had learned to do that automatically, unlike anyone else in the house.  
  
  
Something moved in the palm of Lydia’s hand, making her throw a quick glance down as she shifted a little on her bed. Beetlejuice hadn’t disappeared; he had shrunk to about the length of her middle finger and had now sought refuge in the palm of her hand to hide. Lydia quickly smiled to Delia and nodded to her phone right beside the album. “Oh, I was just talking to a friend on Discord. We were gonna hang up now anyways,” she said and waved her free hand casually around. The other she simply moved to better hide her tiny BFFFFF.  
  
  
Delia nodded slowly. “Ah, ok. I could’ve sworn …” She shook her head and smiled bright, walking over to Lydia. “Anyway! I just thought I’d check on you after … you know, this morning. Are you doing okay?”  
  
  
Lydia shut the album and moved just a little to make room for Delia to join her on the bed. Beetlejuice nearly stumbled into her sleeve at one point to keep up. “Oh, that. Yeah, I’m okay.”  
  
  
Delia sat down oh-so-softly. “That’s good. Still feel bad about … him?”  
  
  
Lydia hesitated for a moment. “Well, yeah. I meant what I said earlier, that’s still all the same.” This could get awkward real fast … he was _right in the palm of her hand_ , literally speaking.  
  
  
“What exactly did the two of you get up to while we were at that motel?”  
  
  
She didn’t mean to laugh, but ended up doing just that. “Sorry. We were uhh, basically pranking anyone that came to our door for a while, until people stopped showing up, then we did lots of other fun stuff. I’m pretty sure Beej warped the house at some points, but for the most part he just made it look a lot more … my kind of style, you know? As soon as there weren’t adults in his line of sight he’d actually calm down – to a degree, at least.” Lydia nearly lifted both hands for a moment. Beetlejuice threw himself into her sleeve, either to weigh it down and stop her or to just make sure he was tucked away. It kind of tickled, but Lydia managed to not let it show. “It was nice. It was like a … a very chaotic, very fun sleepover without any parents, I guess.”  
  
  
Delia surprisingly chuckled at that. “Oh, really? That sounds almost harmless.” _Yeah, let’s go with that …_ “Do you think that’s why he went crazy when we came back?”  
  
  
No. Now she knew better. “Uh … maybe he was scared he’d go back to being invisible again when things went back to normal.”  
  
  
Delia frowned softly and tilted her head slightly. “Invisible?”  
  
  
 _Oops_. “Yeah.” Lydia sighed. “I felt invisible, but he literally was … is invisible to people when he wasn’t summoned. Except with me. I could always see him, even before I summoned him, but … judging by his reaction, I’m the only one. That … must be horrible. To be literally invisible.”  
  
  
The look in Delia’s eyes gave Lydia a spark of hope. She had gotten Delia to feel bad for him. That was a good start. “Oh, wow …” Delia uttered, then took a moment to think.  
  
  
“I did so many dumb things because I was desperate, and most of them just helped lead into the mess that happened in the end. I think it could be the same for him.” Lydia shrugged, careful to not blow Beetlejuice’s cover. “I mean … I have you and dad, and I still went to a dark place … Beetlejuice had _Juno_. I think it’s safe to say she wouldn’t win any parent awards, exactly.” Something very small ‘smacked’ her on the middle of the hand. Did he just give her a tiny high-five?  
  
  
“Oh, good heavens, no! That woman was _awful_. I …” Delia shook her head lightly. “I see what you mean, Lydia. Hm … you know, maybe you’re onto something.”  
  
  
Lydia looked at Delia as if she had sprouted angel wings. “Wait, you think so?”  
  
  
Delia replied with a small nod. “While I don’t necessarily trust him, I’m willing to trust you. That being said … we really need to all sit down and talk things through first, all five of us.”  
  
  
“I know. I tried talking to Barbara about it again earlier, but … I think maybe I should just let it rest for a little while.”  
  
  
Delia smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “I think that’s a good thought. Just come talk to me when you feel ready to talk about it again, I’ll find a good time.”  
  
  
“Thanks, Delia.”  
  
  
“You’re very welcome!” With that, she smiled, stood and left the room, again closing the door behind her.  
  
  
The silence in Lydia’s room only lasted a few seconds.  
“Ya know, maybe Ms. D isn’t half bad after all,” Beetlejuice pondered out loud, having poofed himself back to the right size.  
  
  
“She’s optimistic to a fault, but … yeah, she’s actually alright.” Lydia smiled and turned back toward her BFFFFF.  
  
  
He grinned and nudged Lydia with his elbow. “I think she’s rubbed off on ya, Babes.”  
  
  
“Oh no.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “Not like it literally used to be her job to help me get better or anything. You got to know me in a weird period of my life, Beej – come to think of it, you just made it even weirder.” She smiled and nudged him back, a little harder.  
  
  
“You’re welcome!” Beetlejuice poked her in the side of the head.  
  
  
Lydia just laughed. “Yeah, you’re right … I need a little weird in my life.”  
  
  
“That’s the real reason why you summoned me, isn’t it?” He laid back and smirked, giving her a knowing look.  
  
  
“Aww, what, did it get too sappy for you now?” Lydia cooed, pretending to give him a very pitiful look.  
  
  
“Disgustingly sweet is what all of that was!” He didn't _look_ all that disgusted in her eyes.  
  
  
“I guess Barbara rubbed off on me, too.”  
  
  
Beetlejucie let out a wistful sigh. “I wish Adam would rub off on me –”  
  
  
Lydia outright smacked him on the leg. “Beetlejuice! Ew, no, bad! Stop that!” He just let out an evil cackle in response. “Bad!” Lydia smacked him on the leg again, though lighter this time.  
  
  
“You’ll get it when you get older,” he teased.  
  
  
“Shut up.”  
  
  
“Make me!”  
  
  
Lydia threw herself over him, grabbed a pillow and rolled over so she could shove it into his face. “Like this?”  
He flailed his arms and legs and muffled what Lydia assumed were at least a few swear words into the pillow.  
“What? Can’t hear yoooou!” Lydia giggled maliciously.  
  
  
With a particularly loud grumble, he suddenly grabbed her by her sides and lifted her up – much farther than his arms should be able to. Lydia squealed and dropped the pillow, then began to laugh. His arms looked ridiculous when stretched out at this length. She nearly hit the roof of her bed. “Pppbht!” exclaimed Beetlejuice when the pillow promptly landed back on his face before bouncing off. “You think you’re sooo clever, do you?”  
  
  
Lydia crossed her arms confidently. “Yes, yes I do.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice laughed and put her back down. “Yeah, that was pretty clever … for a breather.”  
  
  
“Oh, come on!” Lydia grabbed the pillow and smacked him on the belly with it. His response was blowing a raspberry in her direction. “Bastard.”  
  
  
“You know it, Babes!” He grinned and winked before sitting up again.  
  
  
Lydia smiled despite shaking her head. "Ok, where were we?" She just about reached the album from where she sat.  
  
  
Beetlejuice teleported over to her side. "Oh, oh, the big beetle thing next to the teenie tiny butterfly!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit meh, I'm in a bit of a lurch where I know where I want to get to, but have to figure out what to fill the meantime with to avoid too abrupt of a timeskip.  
> In my timezone I'm still on a posting streak, though I am definitely a little on the late side, oopsies.


	7. New Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's starting to sink in with Lydia that everything won't be fixed and sorted with a few serious talks in a couple of days.   
> Beetlejuice begrudgingly accepts a "household rule" Lydia definitely didn't just pull out of thin air.

Lydia busied herself with doodling little heads with unruly hair like a certain demon and filling in any hair colors she had seen so far. The demon himself was lying sprawled out on her bed, looking through the bug album again. In the late hours of the evening they had somehow accomplished what Lydia had considered the impossible for Beetlejuice; A comfortable silence. She was nothing short of impressed, though she had suspicions as to why he was so quiet all of a sudden. Every time he thought she wasn’t looking, Lydia saw him pull absent-mindedly on the necklace and look at it.   
  
  
Lydia wondered for how long he had been doing that and decided to keep an eye on his hair for any abrupt changes. For now, it was safely green. “Hey, Beej?”  
  
  
“Hm?”   
  
  
When he looked over, Lydia tried her best to look casual. “How are you doing?”  
  
  
He looked at her as if she asked why the moon was round. “I’m okay,” he answered, dumbfounded. His hair turned bright orange.  
  
  
“You sure?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice blinked, then quickly dug his hand into his hair, giving Lydia a worried glance. “Is it doing something weird?”  
  
  
Lydia quickly jotted down ‘confused’ under the orange doodle. “Well, now it turned orange, but that’s after I asked. It was normal green before.”  
  
  
“Oh … Why did you ask, then?” He seemed a little relieved, but the orange remained.  
  
  
“I don’t know – well, ok I do know, but …” Lydia shook her head as if to reset herself. “I don’t really feel like I’ve asked you before … but everyone around me keeps doing it to me on a regular basis, so …” She shrugged.  
  
  
A dull red seeped in, replacing the orange slowly as Beetlejuice gave an annoyed look down at the album. “Not like you ever need to ask …” he muttered with a sour tone, gesturing to his hair.  
  
  
Lydia scrawled down “annoyed” as quietly as she could and added the closest she had to the currently less angry red color. “Well … as much as it is a good measure of your general mood at any given moment, it doesn’t tell me why it is that way,” she added. After a little moment of thought, she sighed. “Sorry. I guess I just got a little worried when you were quiet for so long.”  
  
  
The red vanished in an instant, only to be replaced by yellow. “Oh … right, I guess that’s kinda odd.”  
  
  
Lydia bit her lower lip, considering for a moment whether she should ask or not. “Hey, Beej? Does the necklace bother you?”  
  
  
“Huh? No,” he answered with disbelief, though it quickly seemed as if a light turned on in his head. “Ohhh, you’ve … seen me look at it a lot, huh?” The yellow went back to green, though Lydia could swear there was a hint of pink at the tips. “I guess I still zone out a little when I look at it, heh … oops. It’s not bad though, it … doesn’t hurt in the weird way anymore.” He pursed his lips briefly. “Ok, maybe a little, but it’s easier to … not think about now?” Beetlejuice groaned and fell flat as if his strings were cut.   
“You know what I mean.”  
  
  
Lydia smiled, put the sketchbook away and walked over to him. “Yeah, I think I do. The messed up stuff doesn’t go away, but it’s easier to deal with.”  
  
  
“Yeah,” he sighed, “and even if I still kinda think of the stupid stuff, I also know they mean something else now.” With a quick look up at Lydia, Beetlejuice sat back up and closed the album with a little smile. “I’m doing okay, though, Lyds. Promise.”  
  
  
Lydia nodded. “Would you tell me if something bothered you?”  
  
  
He let out a little huff of laughter. “Babes, if there’s anyone I’d tell, it’s you. You actually give a damn – or you’re just really good at acting like it, but same shit.” Beetlejuice put up his hands real fast when Lydia gave him an offended glare. “Ok, save your breath, you care.”  
  
  
Lydia relaxed and smiled. “Yeah.” A yawn managed to slip out of her.  
  
  
“Bedtime,” Beetlejuice announced with his strictest voice. With a flick of his wrist, the album flew back onto her desk.  
  
  
Lydia chuckled, but nodded without further protest. “Yeah, I’ll go brush my teeth and get changed. I’ll be back soon.”  
  


When Lydia came back, another yawn ate up the words she wanted to say. “Ugh. Beej, I meant to ask you earlier but forgot. Where did your stinky old suit go?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice turned around, floating by the balcony doors. “The remains of my amazingly vintage filth, you mean.” With one snap of his fingers, the suit appeared next to him, as miserable as it had always looked. Perhaps a little more miserable without a body   
inside of it. With another snap, it disappeared off to wherever it came from; likely the same place he had kept the ring.  
  
  
“Oh, okay.” Lydia shrugged and walked over to the bed. “Come on, bedtime.” She gestured to the other side of the bed as she crawled under the covers.  
  
  
“Tsch … for you, yeah.”  
  
  
Lydia gave him a deadpan look. “And you.”  
  
  
“I don’t have a bedtime, Babes.”  
  
  
Lydia crossed her arms. “Didn’t we agree you’re my big brother yesterday? Well, here in this household we run on the simple sibling logic that when the youngest goes to bed, the older one does too.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes. “That sounds stupid!”  
  
  
“Maybe, but that’s the rules. Lie down.” Lydia _had_ to see if he would fall asleep again like last time if she got him to lie down for long enough. Mostly for shits and giggles, but he didn’t need to know that.  
  
  
“Since when have I ever cared about rules?” Beetlejuice smirked and cocked a brow.  
  
  
“Do I need to get the puppy eyes out?”   
  
  
To Lydia’s utter surprise and amusement, Beetlejuice gave in immediately. Of course, he looked far from happy about it. There were some annoyed streaks of red in his hair, but not enough to worry about. “Alright, alright, Jesus, what’s next, blackmail? Fine, I’m lying down on your stupid bed if it’s so important to you.”  
  
  
Lydia got a good laugh as she lied down, facing him like last night. “Yes, yes it is.”  
  
  
“You’re enjoying this way too much, you cheeky little scarecrow.” Despite the sour squint, Beetlejuice bothered to lie down facing her in return.  
  
  
“Nooo, I think I’m enjoying this just enough.” Lydia couldn’t help using a sickeningly sweet tone.  
  
  
“Oh, I bet you do,” Beetlejuice replied, mocking her tone as he grimaced.   
  
  
“Am I an annoying little sister?” Lydia asked innocently, unable to suppress her giggles completely.  
  
  
Beetlejuice rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide a smile growing on him. “Ya sure as shit _can_ be.”  
  
  
Lydia gave her best attempt at an evil giggle. “Good.”  
  
  
The unadulterated pride in her voice made Beetlejuice laugh. “Wouldn’t want it any other way, Lyds.”  
 _  
  
Aww_. “Now who’s being disgustingly sweet?”  
  
  
“You’ll tell no one about this.”  
  
  
“Well, there’s the blackmail you were worried about, I guess.”  
  
  
“Shit.”  
  
  
“I’ll use it wisely – like to make you take another shower.”  
  
  
“I thought we were friends now!” Beetlejuice exclaimed with heartbroken horror.  
  
  
“It wasn’t _that bad_ , besides; your vintage filth is already dead.”  
  
  
“And you killed it!”  
  
  
“Nooo, I made _you_ kill it.”  
  
  
“That makes you even more of a monster!”  
  
  
“That’s the human way, buddy.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice clearly wanted to quip back, but was interrupted by an involuntary chuckle. “Damn breathers!”  
  
  
“I know, right?” Lydia rolled her eyes.  
  
  
They both looked at each other for a few seconds, daring the other to laugh first. To her chagrin, Lydia cracked first.  
  


They ended up chatting and bickering about all sorts of silly things for a while until Beetlejuice dozed off first like the night before. Lydia wondered if this might become a trend. She also suspected that Beetlejuice might just enjoy sleeping a little more than   
he let on … though his mentions of nightmares kept her from being too certain.   
Despite her insistent yawning into the night, Lydia struggled to fall asleep. After what felt like a small eternity, she checked her phone to realize it was now Sunday. It had been for a little over an hour.   
  
  
An uneasy feeling had manifested itself as a lump in her stomach and refused to leave. It was sort of like when she summoned him, and it had only worsened when he hadn’t seemed happy about being back.   
Now she wasn’t really sure it ever left in the first place. Maybe this was the same sense of unease she’d been carrying since the incident, just ever so slightly changing with every new turn of events. Lydia sighed and got out of bed, giving up on sleep for the time being. Clearly she had to face this someway before she could get a break.  
 _Ok, what exactly is bothering me right now?_ She tried to pretend Delia had asked her to feel a little less dumb about it.  
  
  
Lydia’s eyes had long since gotten accustomed to the dark – and there was some light coming from outside since she had forgotten the curtains again. In other words, her gaze easily found back to the sleeping demon.  
It wasn’t the necklaces or the rings, she was actually proud of that idea. It wasn’t really that Beetlejuice may have thought she only pretended to care for a little while.   
As Lydia finally closed the curtains while she remembered, it hit her. It was that _damn_ yellow shade she’d seen in his hair twice now. While she hoped she’d _never_ see it again, Lydia promised herself that if she did, she’d address it _immediately_ , no matter the situation.   
Somehow, she’d get to the bottom of it, even if she had to do it alone. Though far from a solution, it was enough to let her go back to bed and slip into a heavy sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I spent a lot of chapters on one day there ... I don't think that will repeat itself any time soon, but don't take my guarantee for it.


	8. Dawn of Impending Troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia wakes up last and has to face the consequences. 
> 
> An energetic start on their Sunday gives Lydia an idea on how to get them out of the house a day early.

That morning, Lydia woke up alone in the bed. She could see Beetlejuice had moved around a little more than last night by the look of the cover on his side. Lydia yawned, rolled over on her back and stretched. Where had he gone off to? Lydia sat up, scanning her room with a mild sense of worry.  
Almost the exact moment she sat up, the demon swung down from the top of her bed. “Good morning!”  
  
  
Lydia physically jumped and flailed her arms a little, but she managed to keep a loud yelp down. Instead, she reached behind her back, gripped her pillow and flung it at Beetlejuice’s mischievous grin as hard as she could. “Good fucking morning!” she hissed.  
  
  
Beetlejuice didn’t think to remain silent, but luckily the pillow once again muffled him just in time. He poofed away, then reappeared right beside her, whacking her with the pillow in return. His hair was as bright green as ever. “Oooh, language, Lyds!” he teased excitedly.  
  
  
Lydia would have loved to keep up the sour act, but she couldn’t help but laugh as she tried to wrestle the pillow away from her BFFFFF. He was clearly in a great mood, and it spread to Lydia like flash fire. “Says you!”  
  
  
“I’m a demon, I’m allowed.”  
  
  
“ _Bull-shit!_ ” Lydia spat, emphasizing each syllable. She lost her grip for a second and was promptly smacked over the head with the pillow. “Hey! According to some of the kids at school, I’m a witch, that gives me a free-pass too!”  
  
  
Beetlejuice put the pillow down and cocked his head in a thinking manner. “Well, I guess you have bragging rights for making a deal with a demon, technically.”  
  
  
Lydia stole the pillow to muffle her own laughter. “See? I’m totally allowed to swear, too.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice shrugged. “Would you look at that, you do.”  
  
  
Lydia grinned wide. She hopped up on her knees and gave him a solid pillow-whacking. “Pay-back!”  
  
  
Beetlejuice fell over with a defeated groan. “Ok, I’ll let you have that one.” The very next second he bounced back up with a big smile.  
  
  
Lydia shook her head, putting the pillow back in its place. “Have you been awake for long?”  
  
  
“Nah, don’t think so. You know me, I’m not the best at waiting.” Beetlejuice smirked shamelessly. “I didn’t feel like I waited up there for very long before you woke up.”  
  
  
A snort of laughter escaped Lydia. “The ghost with the most patience you are not, no.” She slid over to the end of her bed and got up on her feet. “Hey, Beej, cover your eyes while I change out of my PJ’s.” Beetlejuice quickly grabbed a pillow and laid down, covering his face. Of course, he took Lydia’s pillow to do so. Lydia chuckled at the sight. He effectively sandwiched his head between two pillows. Had he not been _him_ she’d worry about Beetlejuice suffocating himself. “Thanks.” After a brief pause to decide what fun shade of dress she wanted today, choosing between plum and black, Lydia got changed in no time at all. “Alright, all clear, BFFFFF.”  
  
  
“Forever,” Beetlejuice added as he tossed Lydia’s pillow aside.  
  
  
“Forever,” Lydia repeated, as if to correct herself. “Soo … since you can just turn tiny, maybe we could go out later today with you hidden in my sleeve or something. As long as we stay away from the house and don’t do anything too crazy we should be fine.” At the sight of Beetlejuice pouting, Lydia sighed. “We’ll get up to more crazy stuff eventually, promise.”  
  
  
“Promise?”  
  
  
Nod. “Promise.”  
  
  
He smiled at that. “Alright, sounds good. Can I at least freak someone out a little bit?”  
  
  
“Yeah, sure, if you can keep it on the down low.” Lydia smiled. “It’s probably breakfast soon, unless I missed it –”  
  
  
“Lydia, breakfast!”  
  
  
She chuckled. “No, I did not. I’ll be right back, Beej.” On her way to the door, Lydia stopped abruptly. “Wait, are you hungry? Can you eat, do you eat?”  
  
  
“You’ve seen me eat!” He laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I can find some bugs around this house. Everyone’s downstairs for breakfast, right?” Beetlejuice winked.  
  
  
Lydia frowned. “Or I could probably sneak something up for you if you want a snack. Leave the poor spiders alone, they keep the flies in check.”  
  
  
“I make no promises.”  
 _  
  
Sigh_. “Suit yourself, but I’ll bring a little something back up for you anyway, okay?” Lydia waved him goodbye again before hurrying downstairs when Delia called her name once more. “Coming!”  
  


Lydia ended up opening the door with her elbow and smacking it with her hip to close it behind her. Beetlejuice leaned his head back far enough to look at her. “Hey, Lyds. Took ya long enough!” He was lying on his back the wrong way around in the bed, head just barely resting at the very end of the bed. Well, now it was hanging off because he leaned it back so much. That was much more like how she expected to find him yesterday. Oh well.  
  
  
“Yeah, everyone was really chatty today.” She sighed, then dumped her armful of snacks onto the bed beside him. Beetlejuice sat up immediately and made big, round eyes at the sight. “Turns out, having spent the last several weeks being only moderately anti-social and otherwise a goody-two-shoes makes it a lot easier to get away with bringing a generous buttload of snacks to your room. Don’t just inhale it all, we’re sharing this, alright?” She grabbed a small bag of jelly candies. “And these are _mine_.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice let out a hilariously high-pitched noise of excitement and grabbed hold of a bag of gummy worms. “Worms!?”  
  
  
Lydia giggled. “They’re not real worms, these are made of sugar and … y’know, color. Hey, why don’t you try one and let me know how they compare to the real deal?” _Why not._  
  
  
With that goal in mind, Beetlejuice opened the bag of candies faster than Lydia had ever seen anyone do it – and miraculously only two worms fell out in the process. “Yeah, these are obviously deader than me, but still. That’s fucking hilarious that you guys made candy to look like worms! Never imagined you guys would make anything like that. Cool!” When he bit into one, the chewiness caught him by surprise. With a little aggressive shake of his head, he finally bit it in half.  
  
  
“You should see Halloween candy, Beej. Eyeballs, spiders, little bats, vampire teeth, finger cookies, mummy sausages, I even had a graveyard _cake_ one year.” Lydia sat down with him and threw a few of her own candies into her mouth.  
  
  
“What?! Oh, you better show me.” Beetlejuice looked at the remains of his gummy worm before trying to pull on it again. When he was done playing with it, he shrugged. “It’s far from a real, wriggling worm but for breather stuff, it’s close enough to call a worm.”  
  
  
“Well, they’re called _gummy_ worms,” Lydia casually mentioned.  
  
  
“Yeah, that sounds fair enough since they’re not real worms. They look like worms though, if they drowned in a rainbow or something.” He picked out a new one and smiled like an idiot as he pulled on the worm from both ends. “This is kinda similar to what you can do with a real worm.”  
  
  
Lydia smiled. “So, what’s the verdict, Beej?”  
  
  
“Oh, I like ‘em. They’re like the dessert version of worms – since they’re sweet, get it?” Beetlejuice promptly chucked the whole gummy worm straight into his mouth.  
  
  
“Glad you like them. You can have the whole thing if you want.” Nothing could really have prepared Lydia for when Beetlejuice followed the offer up by literally putting the whole thing – bag and all – in his mouth. Lydia burst so violently into laughter she nearly spilled all her candies. “Oh my god, that’s not what I meant!” Thankfully, Beetlejuice somehow swallowed it all down before he began laughing with her. “You just – oh my _god_ , Beej, you’re insane.”  
  
  
“So they tell me,” he announced with a proud smirk.  
  
  
“You could have eaten one by one and at least had it for a little longer!”  
  
  
“Psssch, that’s breather talk.”  
  
  
“Please don’t do that to the rest of the snacks! Give me a chance to take a few!” Lydia pressed out in a hurry between laughter.  
  
  
Beetlejuice sighed, but chuckled again. “Alright, alright, but only for you, Babes.”  
  
  
“Thank you.” Lydia wheezed before she took a deep breath and sat up. “Oh, there really is never a dull moment with you around.” She smiled and punched his arm softly. “Which, admittedly, is one of the things that made me miss you so much, you big goofball.”  
  
  
“Tsch, I knew that! Have you seen the people you live with? _Snore._ I mean, the Maitlands are fucking sexy and all, but –”  
  
  
“Beetlejuice!” Lydia interrupted.  
  
  
“Hey, I’m just saying –”  
  
  
“Don’t, or I’ll be saying your name again!”  
  
  
“Well ya fucked it up, it’s not in a row, so _hah!_ ” It took him a split second to change expression and tone. “Please don’t do it.” Luckily his hair remained green.  
  
  
Lydia smiled. He knew she wouldn’t really do it, but it was okay, she knew that very well, too. “Ah, damn it all, you got me there,” she groaned, putting her hand dramatically to her forehead.  
  
  
“Oh hell yeah I did. Now where was I …”  
  
  
“Nooo!”  
  
  
Beetlejuice cackled with delight. “I’m just messing with ya, I’ll stop … for now.”  
  
  
“Thank you! Jeez. You’re both a goofball and a hornball!” Lydia stuck her tongue out at him briefly before eating some more candies.  
  
  
“Well, yeah, it’s supposed to be a pair of balls, Lyds, what’s your point?”  
  
  
Lydia nearly choked on a piece of blueberry flavored jelly, but couldn’t really be mad at him. “Ugh, I walked right into that one. Oh my god, imagine if a piece of candy killed me.” For some reason, she just found it hilarious in the moment.  
  
  
Beetlejuice shook his head, on the verge of laughter. “Ohhh, trust me, you don’t want that, you’d never hear the end of it! And death is pretty fucking long, even if you eventually get to move on.”  
  
  
“Yeah, _you’d_ never let me live … erh, die it down.”  
  
  
“Guilty as charged.”  
  
  
“I’d do the same if it was reversed.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice held up his hand. “Up top.”  
  
  
Lydia high fived him before turning more towards the snacks she had brought up. “I brought drinks, too.” When she picked up a juice box, she gave him a clever look out of the corner of her eye. “Second word.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice pretended to think. “Hmmm _wine?_ ” he asked, clearly mocking her from months back.  
  
  
“Oh, come on, I said beverage first, that was at least the right category!”  
  
  
Something seemed to hit him out of the blue. “Holy shit, could you imagine if my middle name was Beetlewine?!” Suddenly he was taken by another laughing fit.  
  
  
“Middle name? Is Beetlejuice your middle name?”  
  
  
“Hm? Yeah, it is, didn’t I – ohhhh, no, I didn’t, I told the Maitlands that, riiiiiight. My first name’s Lawrence.” He seemed almost proud of that fact.  
  
  
“Oh. Wow, that’s cute.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice squinted hard and pursed his lips. “You know, all of a sudden I have regrets.”  
  
  
Lydia barked with laughter. “No, nonono, I didn’t say that to be mean, I meant it well! I guess it was a bad word choice with you, but … I don’t know.” Lydia tossed him a juice box and grabbed another for herself. “I mean, Beetlejuice isn’t your everyday name, not even by a long stretch. Lawrence sounds so normal, especially in comparison. Besides, I think it’s a nice name. Want me to call you that instead?”  
  
  
Though he took a moment to think, he was quick to shake his head. “Nah. I like Beej. Nobody ever fuckin’ uses my first name, but that’s alright with me. It doesn’t bother me if ya do, but it sounds weird. It’s like using someone’s full name – that usually means trouble, ya know?”  
  
  
“Yeah, I get that. Alright, then I’ll stick to what I know best.” Lydia couldn’t help but feel a little privileged to know his “real” name. It certainly wasn’t what she’d expected – but she hadn’t really had any expectations, either. She never really thought about him having first, middle or last names like any normal person. Suddenly that sounded rude. She shook the thought away and began sorting through the little assortment of snacks. "Alright, Beej, which look really interesting to you? We'll save some for our little trip outside." Beetlejuice scooted closer and leaned in comically close to inspect the colorful packaging. "God damn it, Beej." He, of course, only leaned closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still on a streak according to my local time!
> 
> Might lose it tomorrow though, since I have to do a lil' exam rush the following days. But, worry not, I am way too far down this rabbit hole of fun to stop here.


	9. Bringing Chaos Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia and Beetlejuice go to town with just a little bit of havoc on their agenda. Especially when Lydia spots a particularly unfriendly face.

Originally Lydia had planned for a walk in the nearby forest, but Beetlejuice had asked nicely if they could take a detour into town. Honestly, Lydia didn’t see any reason not to, so she wasn’t exactly hard to ask in the first place. The effort on his part was admirable, though. Lydia had expected something more along the lines of endless nagging.  
“Alright, Beej, almost in town now. You might wanna magic yourself some shoes before we walk around. Or don’t, I can’t make you.”  
  
  
Mini-Beetlejuice was sitting on the stem of Lydia’s bike. He leaned his head back and smiled up at her. “I’ll do ya one better, Babes.”  
  
  
She chuckled. “Should I be worried?”  
  
  
“Oh, have some faith in me!”  
  
  
“You’re right, I’ll judge when I see it.” Lydia slowed down and stopped the bike. She doubted anyone would notice them from town, but it was close enough to walk the rest of the distance. “You know what, I’m curious. Come on, let’s see it.” She used one finger to pat her mini BFFFFF on the head.   
  
  
“You got it, Lyds!” He snapped his little fingers and disappeared in the tiniest little puff of dust and smoke.  
  
  
Lydia ended up turning half-way around and, as she had guessed, Beetlejuice was standing behind her. “Oooh!” She brightened up into a big smile. Beetlejuice actually looked pretty cool – not exactly normal, but she’d never expect him to. He had a striped – of course – hoodie on with some very interesting spiked cuffs and a spiked trim on the big pocket. She was outright surprised to see the cargo-pants didn’t have stripes. Upon a closer inspection, Lydia noticed his shoes had spikes, too. Had he just copied her combat boots and added spikes around the front? Now she wanted spikes on hers. “Punky. Cool. I’ll give you that, Beej – I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m all for this.” She smiled and held her hand up for a high-five. “That goes pretty well with your bright green hair – did you do that on purpose?”  
  
  
He grinned and high fived her. “I thought you might like it. You know, I _have_ seen other breathers in sorta recent times other than you and your folks.” With a little shrug, he quickly added, “Well, and maybe I found a bunch of spiky stuff in one of your drawers yesterday and took a teensie little inspiration from that.”  
  
  
“Not bad, Beej, not at all. Hey, give me your hand for a second.” Lydia sighed when he took his hand _off_ his wrist to hand it to her. “Beej, put your hand back on.” He snickered but did as told. When he held out his hand normally, Lydia took a closer look at the spiked cuffs. “Man, I’m gonna have do that to one of my hoodies. Thanks for the idea, Beej.” She took a last look at his hand, smiling like an idiot at how well the black nail polish fit with his current look. If she had only known that when she painted their nails yesterday, maybe she had been more patient with the impatient demon. “Cool,” she finished and turned around to continue walking.  
  
  
Beetlejuice walked up beside her and smirked. “Pleasure’s aaall mine, Lyds.” If he got any more satisfied with himself, he might begin to literally balloon with pride. After just a few steps Beetlejuice got utterly fascinated with how the combat boots interacted with the ground. “Hey, Lyds? Do you walk around in these because you’re so short or because they make you sound badass?”  
  
  
“Because they sound badass,” she answered and stomped the next few steps. Admittedly her boots had more heel, so they sounded just a little bit heavier. “They’re also really good for kicking people with. Oh, and because I think they look really cool.”  
  
  
“I’m starting to see the appeal.”  
  
  
“Yeees, feel the power of the combat boots,” Lydia whispered ominously, stretching to get closer to his ear for the full effect.   
  
  
Beetlejuice nodded slowly. “Hmm, yes …”  
  
  
They ended up strolling into town still giggling at nothing in particular. Seconds into town, Lydia paused and pulled lightly on Beetlejuice’s sleeve. “See that old lady over there?”  
  
  
“Lyds, I see three.”  
  
  
“Ok, the stupid mean looking one with the very faded flowery dress.”  
  
  
An amused snort erupted from Beetlejuice. “Woah, them’s fighting words, Babes.” He looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “How much do you wanna see her suffer?” The abrupt seriousness was back.  
  
  
Lydia smirked slowly. “Give me a little time to think … See, it’s someone in my class’s grandma, she’s also … fond of crying witch whenever she sees me.”  
  
  
“I didn’t need any more of a reason, Lyds.”  
  
  
“I know, but my conscience required me to give it to you anyway. Easy, Beej, we’re not gonna cause any big horrors, alright? We’re just doing pranks.”  
  
  
Somewhere in his grumbling, Lydia managed to make out a disgruntled “Alright.”  
  
  
Finally, it hit Lydia. “Beej. If I say muddy, half-dried puddle …”  
  
  
“I say dip the hag into it.”  
  
  
“As much as I kinda wanna see that … Can you just make her lose her purse in it? We gotta be sneaky, gotta go easy out in clear daylight, you know.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice chuckled. “Can I? Jesus, did you hit your head since last time we met? As much as I hate all of that … _fiiine_.”   
With a lazy snap, at the exact moment the old lady waved her arm around for something, the purse slipped all-too-smoothly off her arm. Mid-air it seemed to ever so slightly curve and flip. Lydia took a moment to scratch a fake itch on her nose to cover the immediate smirk that followed the sight of the old purse smacking opening-down into the nearest puddle.   
  
  
“That will do for today. Thank you, Beej.” Lydia smiled up at Beetlejuice. “Shall we?” She took his arm with one hand and held onto her bike with the other.   
  
  
As they walked, Lydia noticed old lady Verndale picking up her purse as if it had turned into roadkill. “My precious purse! Who would do this to a poor old woman!?” A brave soul, likely as fed up with Verndale as Lydia was, pointed out that nobody had taken her purse. “I would never just drop my purse!” the old lady cried. Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia just caught the moment Verndale spotted her. _Oh boy_. “You! Of course, who else –”  
  
  
Lydia stopped, still holding Beetlejuice by the arm. No use running. The sudden change in old Verndale’s expression when she spotted Beetlejuice with Lydia was priceless, making it all worth it again. Normally, Verndale would have no qualms about walking right up in Lydia’s face and chew her out for whatever she decided Lydia had done wrong, but with Beetlejuice on her arm Lydia wasn’t such an easy target anymore.  
Lydia settled for giving the old lady a confused look. “What? I’m allowed to carry my bike around here,” she said innocently, acting particularly dumb on purpose. Beetlejuice was remarkably still. When old lady Verndale stared up at him in uncertainty, Lydia saw it as an excuse to look at him, too. Beetlejuice was scowling right back, one brow raised as if challenging the old lady. Despite his cold expression, Lydia practically saw the devil himself in his eyes in that moment.   
  
  
The moment Lydia looked back, old Verndale spotted someone else further down the street.   
“Officer!” The old lady hurried toward a man in a very neat police uniform as fast as her stubby little legs could carry her.  
  
  
“Is she seriously –”  
  
  
Lydia sighed and patted Beetlejuice on the arm. “Yeah, she’s trying to tattle on us to the police. For getting her purse muddied up. It’s okay, she’s the bitch that cried wolf at this point. Though I have to give her credit for being so insistent … it’s no wonder her grandkid is so convinced I’m a witch.” Beetlejuice only narrowed his eyes, glaring after the old hag. Lydia pulled gently on his arm. “Hey, knock it off. I know that officer, just let me talk to him. I’ll show you the _breather_ way of screwing over a nasty old lady.” Luckily that seemed to pique Beetlejuice’s interest enough to make him put on a neutral face. They began slowly and casually making their way down towards Verndale and the officer.  
  
  
Officer Samson was, on the outside, what Lydia considered a typical small-town cop; a little on the pudgy side and very docile looking. However, Lydia had seen him run. He was just as fit as his job required of him. Samson was also the absolute number one nice cop she had ever seen, heard of, read about or met. He might very well be one of the nicest people she had met, only rivaled by the Maitlands.  
  
  
Samson calmly nodded and looked toward Lydia and Beetlejuice when Verndale frantically waved her finger in their direction. When they came closer, Samson smiled with the warmth of a cozy campfire. “Morning, Lydia,” he greeted her and waved. “Just for safety, you don’t per chance have a fishing line and a hook on you that you could have pulled on Mrs. Verndale’s purse with, do you? Or, you know … those magics of yours.”  
  
  
Lydia shook her head. “I just got into town, so even if I had a hook and some line on me, I’m afraid I’m not fast enough to have done all of that. Oh, and I'm fresh out of magic today. I saw her drop the purse when we came into town.” Lydia gestured casually to Beetlejuice and herself.  
  
  
“I did not drop it!” Verndale snapped.  
  
  
Samson gave her a strict look. “Mrs. Verndale. I’m only saying this once more. Young Lydia Deetz is not a witch, and I doubt anyone really pulled your purse off your arm. If there was a fishing line in play here, you would have found it. Now, leave her alone. She’s allowed to be here just as much as you and me.”  
  
  
“What about her accomplice?!”  
  
  
“Verndale. Last warning. Be on your way now, before I ask Lydia if she wants to file for harassment against you.”  
The old lady hesitated for another second, then clutched her bag with a sour grunt and scuttled off, throwing sour looks over her shoulder the whole way.  
Samson sighed quietly before turning to the odd pair. “So, with that sorted, I don’t believe I’ve seen your friend before, Lydia.” The officer lit up in a friendly smile again, looking to Beetlejuice.   
  
  
“Hi,” Beetlejuice said and raised his hand in a wave.  
  
  
Lydia had to bite her tongue briefly to not giggle at his antics. “Oh, that’s understandable. Samson, this is my cousin, Lawrence. He just got here, so I’m showing him around. Lawrence, this is officer Samson, the nicest thing in all of Peaceful Pines.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice nodded and picked up on her lie with ease. “Oh, that was it! I thought the name sounded familiar; I remember you talking about this guy. Nice to meet’cha!”  
  
  
Samson laughed. “My, Lydia, you’re much too kind. Nice to meet you, Lawrence! Welcome to Peaceful Pines. You’ll have to excuse some of the locals … It’s a small town, you know, new people intimidate some of these folks.”  
  
  
Lydia’s smile grew naturally. “I probably should have warned you about that,” she thought out loud.   
  
  
Beetlejuice waved her off. “Come on, Lyds, the big cities have grumpy old ladies scowling at everyone, too.”  
  
  
Samson chuckled. “I’m glad she didn’t ruin your little tour. Speaking of, I’d hate to keep you all day long when you have your own plans. Oh, will I be seeing you again, Lawrence?”  
  
  
“Probably,” Beetlejuice said bluntly.  
  
  
“He’s staying for a while, maybe permanently. The house _is_ pretty big for only three people, y’know … We’ll see how he likes it here as Delia keeps saying.” Lydia shrugged.  
  
  
“Well, then I’ll see the both of you around! Stay out of trouble, no pulling old ladies’ purses off with magic!” Samson winked and moved out of their way.  
  
  
“Aww, fine,” Beetlejuice pouted. Samson just laughed and waved as the pair continued on their way. After a few seconds of walking, Beetlejuice turned to Lydia. “Are you sure he’s a cop? He’s nothing like any cop I’ve ever heard of.”  
  
  
Lydia snickered. “Yeah, I know, isn’t he the best? He’s helped me out with old lady Verndale many times – too many, come to think of it. She really is … persistent.”  
  
  
“Jesus.”  
  
  
“You said it. Hey, was it okay that I called you Lawrence just then?”  
  
  
He laughed. “Yeah, I told you it wasn’t a big deal. That reminds me … damn, you’re good at pulling shit out of your ass whenever you need it.”  
  
  
“Well, it’s easier with a great partner in crime.” Lydia grinned and bumped her hip into the side of his leg.  
  
  
“True, true. Hey, Lyds?”  
  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
  
“I hate to do it, but I gotta give it a little credit … subtle pranks maaay not be _that_ bad. Wanna go do some more of that?”  
  
  
“I thought you’d never ask. I mean ... I have so much to show you anyway, so ...” The grin that spread on Beetlejuice’s face was quickly mirrored by Lydia. Peaceful Pines was about to get just a little less sleepy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok this one's late, but at least it's by hours and not days! ... why am I suddenly so obsessed with a schedule I used tags as an excuse to not be posting regularly ...
> 
> It suddenly got very long, so I might either skip the prank montage I considered or add another chapter of mischievous fun before the next I originally planned. Hmm. Opinions can be freely dropped into the comments along with anything else you may feel like. Nothing *is* an option here.


	10. Tour de Pranks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia and Beetlejuice smell the proverbial blood in the water, and decide to stick around town for a few more pranks.

“Come on, come on, Beej, do it!” Lydia shook his shoulder excitedly as she hung over him to see.  
  
  
“Patience, Lyds,” he muttered back calmly.  
  
  
“Oh, real rich coming from -”  
  
  
“Shh.” Beetlejuice had his eyes locked on two ladies further down the street.   
  
Lydia barely registered it when one of them put their hand elegantly on the other’s shoulder. In that very moment, Beetlejuice snapped his fingers. Lydia watched in glee as a giant spider appeared on top of the first woman’s hand.   
First came one scream to pierce the heavens – then another, even higher than the first as the second woman saw a spider on her shoulder. By the time people began to look, the spider was long gone. Suddenly they were in a hurry to get away, though whether it was out of shame or fear of the spider returning, Lydia couldn’t tell.  
  
  
“Hey, Lyds … Do you hear that sound?” Beetlejuice smirked and looked down to his side.  
  
  
“Oh, that beautiful sound,” Lydia hummed before letting out a little giggle. “Ok, ok, that was a nice one. Now will you do the thing? Pleeaase?”  
  
  
“Alright, alright, getting to it. Ya gotta admit, though, Babes … those two looked like they’d make a couple of _good_ screams.”   
  
  
Lydia smiled. “Yeah, and you were right. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone run that fast in heels before, that was an accidental highlight. Buut, Beej … the thing!”  
  
  
“Oh, shut up and let me work in peace!”  
  
  
“This is Peaceful Pines, you’re not gonna get it much more peaceful this side of the border.”  
Beetlejuice ended up just shoving his hands in his pocket and giving Lydia a deadpan look. When she went quiet for a few seconds, he raised a brow.  
“Yeah, I’m done now, sorry.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice grinned and ruffled her hair. “There ya go, scarecrow. Now, where’d buddy-cop go?” He tried scouting the street from their discreet corner.  
  
  
“Samson disappeared up another street a few minutes ago,” Lydia reported quickly.  
  
  
“Good. He doesn’t need to see this.”  
  
  
Lydia cackled. “You say it like this is gonna end up as a crime scene.” Beetlejuice only chuckled ominously at that. Lydia elbowed him briefly before focusing on their unknowing victim.   
  
A young man had spent the better half of eternity – well, really only a few minutes – looking over probably every single newspaper and magazine available outside of the store at least twice. Right before she was about to nag Beeltejuice once more, she saw a little girl come skipping out of the same store, happily putting a lollipop into her mouth as she handed the young man another. Lydia glanced up at Beetlejuice. Had he noticed that the guy was waiting for the kid? She sure hadn’t.  
The smirk on his face seemed to suggest that her suspicions were right. The man only got two steps away from the store before he slipped on a banana peel – that had been at the edge of the trashcan behind him only a second ago.  
  
Lydia couldn’t help but howl with laughter at the sight. She tried to muffle it, but luckily she wasn’t the only one. Beetlejuice cackled loudly and shamelessly, of course; but the young girl also began to laugh hysterically at the sight of her brother or perhaps father doing half a flip on a banana peel as if he was a cartoon character. The sound the poor man let out didn’t help; somewhere between Goofy’s scream and a strangled goose, Lydia decided. Some passersby couldn’t quite contain their chuckles or smiles, either, though some quickly hurried over to check if he was okay.   
  
  
Beetlejuice only laughed harder when he saw their banana peel victim begin to laugh with everyone else. “This guy’s taking it like a champ, huh?” He chuckled and looked over to Lydia.  
  
  
She nodded happily. “Definitely. At least that means he’s okay. He’s not living that down anytime soon though, did you see the look on the girl?”  
  
  
Beetlejuice mimicked the expression and snickered. “Sure did. So, was it worth the wait?” He grinned proudly.  
  
  
“Oh, absolutely. I didn’t realize you were waiting for an audience.”  
  
  
“C’mon, I had to let the little kid see it – it’s not everyday ya get to see people fall flat on their asses from an actual banana peel!”  
  
  
“Aren’t you sweet,” Lydia mocked. Beetlejuice stuck his tongue out at her, which Lydia immediately mirrored.  
She threw a quick glance back to the store, a little relieved to see the man walk away without any apparent pain. Suddenly, something hit her. Lydia lit up and gasped before she gripped Beetlejuice’s sleeve and shook it excitedly. “Oh, Beej, Beej, that reminds me! There’s a thing you _have_ to try! I _NEED_ to see your reaction! Please!”  
  
  
Her sudden excitement quickly transferred to Beetlejuice. “Ooh, what is it? Gimme!”  
  
  
Lydia squeaked with excitement. “Actually, just wait here, I’ll be right back with it, I don’t want anything to spoil it!” With that, she ran into the store, only to come rushing out again a couple of minutes later with a little cup filled with a tri-colored dollop of ice cream. Beetlejuice tilted his head in interest when she came back to him.   
  
  
Lydia grinned wide and held up the cup. The mix was light green, light pink and beige. Any unknowing fool would easily be able to take it for a mix of normal flavors of icecream; but Lydia knew better. In reality, it was neither mint, pistachio, strawberry, raspberry, chocolate or caramel. She didn’t actually truly _know_ what the three flavors were; and she didn’t want to know, either.  
Beetlejuice took a big, brave spoonful and put it right into his mouth upon Lydia’s request.  
After a few seconds, his eyes widened and his brows shot up.  
Lydia began laughing. “It’s disgusting, isn’t it?”  
  
  
“Are you kidding?! It’s fucking great!” He lit up, snatched the cup out of Lydia’s hands and took another spoonful with the greatest joy.  
  
  
Lydia laughed even harder. Of course, of course – if there was one person in the world that would _like_ the weird, artisan, limited edition muck that somehow ended up in sleepy Peaceful Pines, it was Beetlejuice. “Oh, it’s even better if you like it! I wanted to see if it was _so_ disgusting even you wouldn’t like it, but I actually think it’s even funnier that you like it after all. Ohhh …” Lydia tried to stop laughing, as she laughed so hard it began to hurt. Of course, that’s when Beetlejuice decided to simply shove the cup and remaining ice cream into his mouth – somehow he fit it in smoothly. Lydia had an almost spastic moment as she jumped to the wall, gripping onto it for support as she went from laughter to wheezing. “Oh my god, Beej, can you _not_ shove the packaging of edible stuff into your face when we’re in public!?” She laughed like she had never done, leaning on the wall with a smile so wide it began to sting her cheeks.  
  
  
Beetlejuice grinned and proudly licked the side of his mouth. “What, it adds texture!”  
  
  
“Oh my god!” Lydia put her hands to her face and shook her head, still shaking from a giggle-fit. “You sure are something, Beej,” she finally sighed and rested one hand to her chin, a mild chuckle still shaking her chest.  
  
  
“How’d you get that if it’s something nobody likes? Also, I want more.”  
  
  
Lydia smirked. “I’ll get you more if you promise to not eat the damn cup again where people can see you.”  
  
  
“ _Deal!_ ”  
  
  
“Alright, alright. It’s some weird artisan – erh, non-standard – ice cream, it’s only been in the store for a few weeks, will probably be gone soon. The owner of the store is very into artisan … anything he can reasonably sell in his general store. Weird flavors of ice cream nobody’s heard of, weird candies, very … non-traditional food stuff, mostly.” Lydia stood up and scratched her neck briefly. The impatient glee painted all over Beetlejuice’s face nearly sent her into another laughing fit. “Most of the time they do actually taste really good, it’s just this one ice cream with god-knows-what in it that just … anyone I’ve seen taste it except for you immediately gagged or at least made a disgusted face after the first bite – myself included. Obviously, I _had_ to test it on you. I’m not gonna lie, I kinda thought of you when I tasted it last week. I already had planned … you know … and I promised myself if you’d stick around, I’d make you taste that.”  
  
  
“Well you made the right fucking call! How long do you think it’s gonna last?” Beetlejuice threw a longing glance to the store.  
  
  
“I can ask him how long he’s planning to keep it in the store. I’m guessing it might last out next week, but no longer than that, probably. It’s had its popularity spike in town, when everyone had to test it, see if it was as bad as everyone said … but now I think everyone’s done with it.” Lydia shrugged and headed back to the shop.  
  


To Lydia’s great surprise, Beetlejuice ate the new portion of ice cream at a very decent pace – and _normally_. Maybe she shouldn’t be surprised anymore to see him do as she wanted if she just told him clearly enough. Of course, once they got out of town and headed toward the forest, both the cup and spoon disappeared mysteriously when Lydia looked away for a second. Either he’d magicked them away or eaten them again, because he hadn’t just dropped them; Lydia made sure of that.  
  
  
“You’re like a living trash can.”  
  
  
Beetlejuice smirked and raised a brow, giving her a cheeky look out the corner of his eye. “Excuse you?”  
  
  
“Sorry, born-dead trash can.”  
  
  
“There you go.” Beetlejuice patted her jokingly on the head.  
  
  
Lydia continued holding her bike beside her. They had spent a lot more time in town than she had planned, so their trip to the forest now became a trip _through_ the forest on their way back, but Lydia didn’t mind. Walking through town watching Beetlejuice cause a string of hilarious minor inconveniences was well worth it. As a matter of fact, she was particularly proud of showing him the value of subtlety. At least a little bit – when it came to pranks specifically. She’d say that counted for something.  
  
  
“Hey, Beej? Are beetles your favorite, or is that just ironic?” Lydia snickered. Beetlejuice was eagerly nodding before she could finish her sentence. “The first one?” He nodded with even greater excitement. “Why?”  
  
  
“Would you rather have the choice of a few big cookies, or a bunch of smaller ones?”  
  
  
Lydia gave it some genuine thought. “Big cookies. They’re usually not as dry. Is … I can’t believe I’m asking this but is it the same for bugs?”  
  
  
“Yuuu-up. Also, easier to catch.”  
  
  
“Of course.” Lydia did a double-take. “Erh, I mean that genuinely. I’ve tried catching my fair share of bugs when I was younger, the bigger ones were usually easier to catch – except for grasshoppers … those were just as difficult regardless.”  
  
  
“Ya just gotta predict where they’re gonna hop.”  
  
  
“Easier said than done!”  
  
  
“Well – yeah, you’re right, but if you watch’em for long enough, you can kinda start to get the feel of it.”  
  
  
Lydia nearly stopped and gave Beetlejuice a narrow, doubtful squint. “Do you actually have the patience for that?”  
  
  
He laughed heartily. “Once in a blue moon,” he admitted with a big, goofy shrug.  
  
  
“Yeah, I thought there was something off …” Lydia smiled and winked. “Well, if you find any, can you tell me before you eat them?” She lifted her camera up and waved it briefly from side to side.  
  
  
Beetlejuice sighed heavily. “I’ll do my best to oblige … lucky for you, I’m not super hungry thanks to that ice cream.”  
  
  
“I have more of those gummy worms …”  
  
  
“I’ll report any findings back to you ma’am – posthaste!”  
  
  
Lydia couldn’t help but laugh again. It really was that easy, huh? She looked up at Beetlejuice with a big smile. He smiled back, hair so brightly green it stood out against the rest of the forest. A sense of ease fell over Lydia as she once again felt like her choice, in the end, was the right one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had a little series of pranks half-way planned but they've gotten lost on me in the long absence, I'm so sorry! Also, sorry for the mostly abrupt disappearance, it went on for waay longer than I planned, procrastination is a _bitch_, again so sorry! I don't feel this one's quite ... up to par, but hey, I had fun writing it. I'm really excited to get onto the next one, and I'm aiming for an estimated wait time of ... _less than a goddamn month_. x'D
> 
> On a more serious note, thank you so much everyone who's taken the time to comment, give kudos and/or just generally reading my fanfic! Over a thousand hits now, wow. The support has been great! A real good motivation seeing as this is only my second go at actually posting my fanfictions, _ever_. I wrote a lot some years back, but never dared to post anything (and I'm glad I didn't looking back, at least this newer one has a decent quality level.) It's a very ... very sweet re-introduction into fandom interaction, and I am really grateful for everything, even if it's a "small thing". <3 Oh, and thanks for the patience!


End file.
